New England Clean Energy Connect will provide significant benefits for Lewiston
The city will see significant property tax revenues generated from the project
April 29, 2020-LEWISTON, MAINE– Analysis done by the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) and Lewiston’s tax assessment department shows the city will reap significant economic benefits. The new corridor will run from the Canadian border to Lewiston where it will connect to the rest of the New England grid.
Lewiston Tax Assessor Bill Healey estimates that the $350 million investment in the city will generate property tax revenue in excess of more than $7 million in just the first year. The investment also includes upgrades to the substation located on Larrabee Road in Lewiston.
“The New England Clean Energy Connect will provide our community meaningful tax relief,” said Lewiston Mayor Mark Cayer. “The additional tax revenue will enable the city to consider reducing our local property tax rate and will help address community priorities including safe and affordable housing, education, street paving and economic development.”
“The NECEC will bring substantial economic benefits to Maine,” said Thorn Dickinson, CEO & President of NECEC Transmission LLC. “Lewiston in particular will enjoy millions of dollars of increased tax revenue, which is critical as we experience negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Mainers statewide will see other economic benefits from the NECEC, including $140 million for consumer rate relief and another $50 million for low-income customers. The NECEC will also allow for a major reduction in Maine’s dependence on fossil fuels in the fight against climate change and will account for more than 3 million metric tons of carbon that will be removed from our air annually once the NECEC is operational. That’s the equivalent of taking more than 700,000 vehicles off New England’s roads each year for the 40-year life span of the project.
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 is planned to begin once final environmental permits are received, 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.