Maine businesses awarded millions in contracts to produce thousands of mats for New England Clean Energy Connect
The contracts provide critical work and will be divided between four companies
AUGUSTA, MAINE – April 17, 2020 – The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) today announced it has awarded nearly $7 million in matting contracts to four Maine companies. The work will be divided between Eastern Forest Products in Casco, Maine Mats in Bingham, Dimensional Timber in Palermo and Sunset Development Inc. in Milford.
“This is just another example of how the New England Clean Energy Connect is bringing jobs to Maine,” said Thorn Dickinson, President & CEO of NECEC LLC Transmission. “The corridor is projected to inject more than $570 million into Maine’s economy and will ensure steady work for Mainers in a time of great economic uncertainty.”
These contracts will ensure the production of 17,000 mats for the project. Recently, the NECEC purchased an additional 30,000 mats from Maine contractors at a cost of $12 million. This, coupled with the announcement of $300 million worth of transmission construction contracts, translates into a $320 million dollar investment that will directly benefits Maine’s economy and the creation of more than 700 jobs.
“The economic impact of this contract can’t be overstated. It has allowed our company to purchase an additional mill and hire more employees,” said James Reinzo, Chief Executive Officer of Sunset Development Inc. “The project’s trickle-down effect will put millions into the Maine economy at a time when so many Mainers are facing economic hardship.”
The nearly 50,000 mats which are being manufactured for the construction of the corridor will be used to create portable roads to protect the environment. To date, 9,000 of those have mats have already been completed.
The NECEC has already received permits from a number of state agencies. Additional permits required to begin construction are expected in the second quarter of 2020. Construction is expected to be completed in 2022.
For more information about the New England Clean Energy Connect, please visit our website at https://www.necleanenergyconnect.org/.
ABOUT THE NECEC PROJECT
The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) is a $950 million investment that will deliver 1,200 megawatts of renewable hydropower to the New England energy grid in Lewiston, Maine. All the costs will be paid for by Massachusetts electric customers. Once built, the NECEC would be New England’s largest source of renewable energy, representing a fundamental shift away from fossil fuels while simultaneously lowering energy costs in Maine and New England.
The 145-mile transmission line will be built on land owned or controlled by Central Maine Power. The 53 miles of new corridor on working forest land will use a new clearing technique of tapered vegetation; the remaining two-thirds of the project follows existing power lines created for the state’s hydroelectric industry almost a century ago. Construction will begin as soon as final environmental permits are received, expected in the third quarter of 2020, with the construction completed and the line in service by December 2022.
The project will create more than 1,600 good-paying jobs during the two-and-a-half-year construction period, provide $200 million in upgrades to Maine’s energy grid, making Maine’s electricity service more reliable. The NECEC will allow more producers of renewable energy in Maine to get their energy on the grid, and because the corridor project will use clean hydropower, it will reduce the use of fossil fuels, cutting three million metric tons of dirty emissions each year.
The NECEC will also deliver significant economic benefits to Maine, including lower electricity prices, increased local real estate taxes, and reduced energy costs, as well as benefits like expanded fiber optic cable for broadband service in Somerset and Franklin counties, and economic development funding for Western Maine.
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