The Maine Governor’s Energy Office in December submitted a recommendation to the Maine Public Utilities Commission to procure up to 200 megawatts of energy storage for Maine that increases grid resilience, lowers electricity costs, maximizes federal incentives, and advances the state’s clean energy goals and statutory requirements.
Pursuit of cost-effective energy storage technology is important to Maine’s long-term energy and economic needs, as discussed in Maine’s Climate Action Plan, Maine Won't Wait, as well as the Maine's Draft Energy Plan which will be finalized and submitted to the Legislature in January.
Details on the recommendation are available here.
In June 2021, Governor Janet Mills signed bipartisan legislation which established goals for energy storage in Maine, including 300 megawatts installed by the end of 2025, and 400 MW installed by the end of 2030. Maine was the ninth U.S. state to adopt energy storage goals into state law.
To date, Maine has 63 MW of grid-connected energy storage capacity. This figure does not include storage that is still under construction, including a 175 MW, 2-hour project in Gorham as well as other projects which are still waiting to be connected to the grid. In addition, there are also several smaller, behind-the-meter (customer-sited) energy storage projects operating in the state.
In August 2024, Mills and members of Maine’s Congressional Delegation announced that the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $147 million grant to support an innovative 85 MW, 100-hour multi-day energy storage system in Lincoln, Maine to enhance grid resilience and optimize the delivery of renewable energy.
The project, at the site of the former mill site in Lincoln, would be the first of its kind in New England and the largest long-duration energy storage project in the world to date.
