MAINE MONITOR • June 2, 2024
About a quarter of the electricity generated in Maine comes from hydropower, and most of that is produced by Brookfield Renewable, which owns dozens of dams in the state, from Saco to Millinocket. In all, Brookfield generates about 87 percent of the hydropower and 21 percent of the wind power in Maine. It has also begun generating a growing amount of solar power, as well as some from biomass. Brookfield’s parent company is a sprawling investment firm based in Canada that claims more than $925 billion in assets, with real estate, energy and infrastructure projects across the globe. As Maine pushes toward its goal of running on 80 percent renewable energy by 2030, Brookfield appears poised to play an outsize role in the transition. Yet aside from some high-profile conflicts over fish passage at its dams, Mainers rarely hear about this mega-corporation.