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Maine is sprinting to build clean energy projects before federal tax credits expire.
State utility regulators are fast-tracking plans to procure nearly 1,600 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy, with the goal of getting projects started before key incentives disappear under the budget law signed by President Donald Trump this month. Developers were given just two weeks to submit proposals, with a deadline of July 25.
These projects should help the state make up for clean-energy developments derailed by the pandemic, and ultimately progress toward its newly mandated target of 100% clean energy by 2040.
“This is an opportunity to get some things done that Maine had every intention of getting done a handful of years ago,” said Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, a nonprofit industry group. “It’s good news.”
The move comes as the clean-energy industry pushes other states, including New York and California, to help speed up wind and solar deployments before subsidies expire in the coming years.
For its part, Maine is looking for enough bids to meet roughly 13% of its annual electricity usage. Preference will be given to developments that make use of property contaminated by toxic PFAS, following the discovery in recent years that at least 60 Maine farms have unsafe levels of these “forever chemicals” in their soil and water.
This specification is a win for renewable energy, wildlife, and farmers whose land has been rendered unusable for agriculture, said Francesca Gundrum, director of advocacy for Maine Audubon.
“This work to help deploy solar and other renewable technologies is exactly the kind of siting we need to see more of in Maine,” she said. “Whatever we can do to minimize the turnover of habitat is something we’re going to be supportive of.”
The current procurement has its roots in a bill the Maine Legislature passed in 2023, calling for the state to source renewable energy from installations sited on PFAS-contaminated land. A request for proposals was issued in August 2024, but none of the initial bids were deemed cost-effective, and none were selected. This year, the Legislature went back to the drawing board, tweaking details about how solar and storage projects can enter proposals.
The amended bill was enacted in June with an “emergency preamble,” allowing it to become law immediately, rather than waiting the typical 90 days after the legislative session adjourns. That move required the approval of at least two-thirds of lawmakers in both the state Senate and House, which is an encouraging sign of support for renewables across political divides, said Dan Burgess, director of the Maine Governor’s Energy Office.
“It’s really exciting that a bipartisan coalition of legislators sees this as an opportunity to bring on low-cost clean energy in Maine,” he said.
Previous renewable energy procurements in 2020 and 2021 chose 24 wind and solar developments to buy power from. Many of these projects, however, fell apart when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains and drove up inflation, Burgess said. This latest solicitation is a great opportunity to make up some of that lost ground, he said.
Maine was an assertive early adopter of the “renewable portfolio standard,” a state-level regulation that requires utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their power supply from renewable resources. When Maine adopted the policy in 1999, it required 30% of the electricity sold to be renewable (a number it hit immediately because of the high concentration of hydropower in the state). The total requirement increases over the years; the state is now aiming for 90% renewables by 2040 with the final 10% coming from non-emitting but not necessarily renewable sources, like nuclear.
Today, about 32% of Maine’s electricity comes from gas-fired power plants, and another 31% from hydropower. Solar and wind together contribute roughly one-quarter of the supply.
Studies suggest that Maine’s commitment to renewable energy has already saved residents significant sums and stands to create even more financial benefits. A 2024 report on the impact of the renewable portfolio standard found that utility customers saved a total of about $21.5 million each year from 2011 to 2022. An analysis released in January concluded that reaching 100% clean energy by 2040 would save the average Maine household around $1,300 per year.
The current procurement is to be the last under the existing regulatory structure, in which the state Public Utilities Commission is the body that runs such solicitations. Legislation signed this month will create a cabinet-level energy department — currently Maine has only an energy office — with the authority to run regular procurements as needed to advance the state’s renewable energy goals.
“Instead of doing these one-off procurements specifically directed by the Legislature, we’re now getting to have that predictability,” Donoghue said.
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