PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 26, 2023
Gov. Janet Mills and federal energy officials on Tuesday extolled Maine’s potential floating offshore wind power resources that are still years in the making. Maine’s application for a research lease for offshore wind, known as the Maine Research Array, is expected to be generating energy for the state by the end of the decade. A land-based wind project, the planned Aroostook Renewable Gateway, to bring power from northern Maine to ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator, has been moving ahead of offshore floating wind projects in the regulatory process. A citizens’ initiative passed in 2021 requires that construction of a high-voltage transmission line be approved by the Legislature, which approved the Gateway project in June. The ruling came in the wake of the highly controversial New England Clean Energy Connect Project intended to bring hydropower from Quebec to the New England grid.