AUGUSTA, Maine — The Baldacci administration released additional details Wednesday about a package of initiatives that officials hope will foster greater energy independence in Maine while at the same time creating thousands of new jobs.
Gov. John Baldacci announced the proposed initiatives during his State of the State speech Tuesday night. On Wednesday he said that a one-stop-shop within state government of energy programs would be aimed at making it easier for home or business owners to get the help they need to make their buildings more energy efficient.
Currently, energy programs are scattered among several state agencies.
Coupled with the reorganization of energy programs under one umbrella, the state plans to work with banks and credit unions to guarantee up to $100 million in weatherization loans.
The banks and credit unions will still do the lending, but having the state sign on as a backer of those loans gives financial institutions incentive to increase the size of the pot of money, according to the governor and his aides.
Between the private loans and $32 million in federal stimulus money, the state hopes to conduct 20 times as many weatherization projects as are done now as part of a goal to increase the efficiency of all Maine homes in 20 years.
“It’s a very ambitious goal but I think you have to set those kinds of goals,” the governor said Wednesday.
Another significant initiative that Baldacci discussed during Tuesday’s speech was a plan to investigate locating new high-capacity electrical transmission lines within highway rights of way.
On Wednesday, Maine Department of Transportation officials signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. to study whether transmission lines could be buried along the interstate corridors between South Orrington and the New Hampshire border.
Co-locating would reduce construction costs, lessen environmental impacts and allow the utility to avoid the potentially contentious process of routing through hundreds or even thousands of different properties. Utility officials said new transmission lines are required to bolster the Maine grid’s reliability and to accommodate the explosion in renewable energy projects proposed for the state.
“It just makes sense all around if we can make it work,” said Bangor Hydro spokeswoman Susan Faloon.
Bruce Van Note, deputy commissioner for operations and budget at the DOT, said a few other states, but not many, already use highway corridors for transmission lines. The 120-day study will determine whether to proceed to the next step with federal highway administrators.
“Long corridors are difficult to come by and if there is one there, why not use it for more” than just transportation, asked Van Note.
The Baldacci administration also is talking with Canadian authorities about the possibility of a second energy corridor between Maine and New Brunswick as well as alternative ways to connect Northern Maine to the New England grid. The Public Utilities Commission earlier dismissed a project that would have connected Aroostook County to the rest of Maine’s power grid after unanticipated technical hurdles were discovered.
But the governor’s energy initiatives have plenty of company — or competition — in the State House this session.
Legislative leaders have been working for some time on a package that includes many of the same proposals, including using highway corridors for transmission lines.
And on Wednesday, a legislative committee heard testimony on a bill, LD 866, that would create and fund a heating oil efficiency program similar to the state’s Efficiency Maine program for electricity.
Revenues from a controversial “system benefit charge” on heating oil — similar to those levied on electricity and natural gas — would help consumers save an estimated $1 billion in heating oil costs, according to the bill’s sponsor, House Speaker Hannah Pingree. The charge would start out at 2.5 cents per gallon and would be paid by wholesalers, who will presumably pass the costs along to consumers.
“This will allow Maine people and businesses to save their money and invest it in their families or employees,” Pingree, D-North Haven, said about her weatherization and efficiency bill. “This will also allow the creation of new long-term industries and jobs. When this program is fully in place, we will have gone a long way to addressing a critical, structural challenge for our families, our businesses, our environment, and our economy.”