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Priorities designed to improve reliability and resilience, improve data quality, and promote flexible management of consumer resources and energy consumption.

From the Order:
{***} In this Order the Commission finds that a proposed combined heat and power project that does not have an initial in-service date after November 1, 2022, does not qualify for a long-term contract under 35-A M.R.S. § 3624. The Commission also finds that a proposed combined heat and power project located in the service territory of a consumer owned transmission and distribution utility that would deliver energy to an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility through a financial or other contractual mechanism is eligible for such a long-term contract.  {***}

From the Press Release:
{***} The Maine Public Utilities Commission (Commission) has identified priorities and other details to be contained in initial ten-year integrated grid plans for Maine’s investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities in an effort to improve grid reliability and resiliency while keeping costs affordable and helping to achieve Maines goals for greenhouse gas reductions and climate policies.

“These grid plans will assist in the cost-effective transition to a clean, affordable, and reliable electric grid,” said Commission Chair Philip L. Bartlett II. This has been a long, complicated process and we appreciate the many stakeholders who devoted their time and resources to this important effort. This is a pivotal time for Maines electric distribution grid, which requires substantial investment to continue to serve customers safely and reliably, particularly in light of Maines beneficial electrification goals.

The priorities and potential steps to achieve those priorities are:
Reliability and resilience improvements -Make investments that cost-effectively maintain or improve reliability; -Reduce barriers to promote cost-effective non-wires alternatives (NWA) solutions and identify any process improvements/efficiencies; and -Build climate adaptation into the investment solution mix.

Improve data quality and integrity to maximize its use in distribution system planning -Leverage investments in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI); -Improve mapping of the distribution system and develop a governance policy or protocols for maintaining the integrity of the data on an ongoing basis; -Develop initial roadmap for advancing time-series planning models; and -Enhance hosting capacity maps to benefit stakeholder decision making by standardizing them across utilities.

Promote flexible management of consumers resources and energy consumption -Improve forecasting electric vehicle (EV) load, distributed energy resources (DER) adoption, and climate parameters; -Support integration and utilization of DERs to enable load flexibility and resilience; -Technologies or programs to shift load from system peak to reduce Maines share of the Regional Network Service (RNS) charge.

Press Release  (07/25/2024)
Order On Project Eligibility  (07/25/2024)
2023-00296   (11/3/2023)
Commission Initiated Request For Proposals For The Sale Of Energy From Qualifying Combined Heat And Power Projects Pursuant To P.L. 2023 C. 353