Maine is leading in this energy field with wide support ahead of Donald Trump’s return

By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff

Maine is finalizing the next phase of its ambitious plans for energy storage, a renewable avenue that is becoming more important amid President-elect Donald Trump being poised to stall clean energy projects.

Long-term energy storage facilities often feature nondescript box-like structures that are actually large batteries that absorb excess energy from the grid and discharge it when needed. In Maine, they already exist in old mill towns such as Rumford and Millinocket. Bigger projects are coming in Gorham and in Lincoln, which will be home to the world’s largest multi-day battery system.

The field has been less politicized than solar and offshore wind projects in Maine and other states that face uncertain funding prospects ahead of Trump returning to the White House. Analysts and renewable advocates have cautioned Trump could hamper energy storage growth by scaling back clean energy tax credits and raising tariffs on China-made battery components.

But the fact that conservative states have benefited from these projects along with Democratic-led states like Maine that also have statutory climate goals is a sign of the nuanced nature of the clean energy boom.

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, signed into law a 2021 measure from then-Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, that created energy storage goals for Maine and steps to achieve them. That legislation, which mostly passed along party lines as Republicans largely opposed it, set goals of having 300 megawatts of installed energy storage within Maine by the end of 2025 and 400 megawatts by the end of 2030, or enough energy to power about 400,000 homes.

Officials called Maine’s targets “some of the most ambitious in the country” given the state’s small size, with 400 megawatts equaling about 20 percent of peak demand in 2021. Maine was the ninth state at the time to enact storage goals, and experts said that total will grow to 13 if Illinois becomes the latest to codify targets.

Under an additional 2023 law, Mills’ energy office has been evaluating programs to achieve those goals by initially reaching 200 megawatts of storage while maintaining “cost-effective” conditions for ratepayers and maximizing federal incentives. Following a feedback process, advocates worried the state was slow-walking an procurement design study due by 2025.

But Dan Burgess, Mills’ top energy adviser, said in a statement the office will submit the study to the Maine Public Utilities Commission for final approval by the end of this month. 

“[The governor’s office] looks forward to working with the commission to advance a storage procurement for Maine that enhances our electric grid, provides essential load flexibility and helps stabilize energy prices by reducing our reliance on costly, imported fossil fuels,” Burgess said.

Burgess also noted the office has worked to win competitive grants to support energy storage projects, including a $147 million federal grant that will help Massachusetts-based Form Energy build the massive iron-air battery storage facility at the site of the old Lincoln pulp mill.

That project’s completion date is unclear, but Form Energy said the 85 megawatts of iron-air batteries store energy at less than a tenth of the cost of lithium-ion batteries and can discharge energy for 100 straight hours. The startup cited the state’s energy storage goal of installing 400 megawatts by 2030 among its reasons for choosing Maine.

In Gorham, the Cross Town Energy Storage project from Texas-based Plus Power will allow the regional grid operator to start dispatching up to 175 megawatts of energy storage capacity by mid-2025 and will feature 156 tractor trailer-like containers with lithium iron phosphate batteries spread across five acres in an industrial park.

Maine currently has 63 megawatts of installed energy storage capacity, according to Mills’ office. That does not include the pending projects, and the office said it does not know the capacity of various smaller storage projects in Maine.

Jeremy Payne, a lobbyist in Maine who represents renewable energy companies, recalled conversations with Republican lawmakers who support energy storage but voted against the state’s goals more due to opposing government intervention.

“It feels like energy storage is really one of the only energy topics that garners bipartisan support,” Payne said.

But Rep. Steven Foster of Dexter, the lead Republican on the Legislature’s energy committee, said he thinks nuclear and hydropower sources are better options for Maine and that battery storage projects are enriching out-of-state firms.

“I think we are a poor state with a small population that’s going to find it very expensive to put in enough battery storage,” Foster said.

Trump’s plans to enact higher tariffs on China and phase down Inflation Reduction Act tax credits could hurt the U.S. energy storage market and make it harder for Maine to reach its goals, Isshu Kikuma, a senior energy storage research associate for BloombergNEF, said.

But renewable energy projects Trump could target have already received warm receptions from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in various states, especially given the number of jobs they have created. Trump could focus more on stalling initiatives like offshore wind.

“We don’t expect the upcoming administration to fully repeal these tax credits,” Kikuma said. “It’s because they often benefit projects in red and swing states.”