Hundreds of Mainers go to work as construction begins on the New England Clean Energy Connect
The Clean Energy Corridor has hired hundreds of Maine workers with hundreds more to follow in the coming months
AUGUSTA, MAINE – February 8, 2021 – The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) is pleased to announce 275 Mainers have already been hired as work begins on a project critical to Maine’s future. Construction began in January with snow being plowed and mats being laid to provide access to construction sites.
“I’ve talked to so many Mainers who are thrilled to be back in Maine after having to go out of state for work,” says Thorn Dickinson, NECEC president/CEO. “This project has always promised to provide an economic boost to Maine’s economy, and we are already seeing those benefits take shape.”
The NECEC will continue to give preference to Mainers to fill all positions available to do the work on this project. That includes a mix of union and non-union labor. These are good paying jobs with an average salary of $38 per hour and other benefits.
“Our members' careers depend on infrastructure projects like NECEC, and this project means jobs. Jobs during the COVID crisis when they are most urgently needed,” said Tim Burgess, IBEW 104 assistant business manager. “We’re proud of this project and are looking forward to getting more Mainers to work.”
“I’m a Bangor native and a University of Maine graduate, but I had to move out-of-state for my career,” said Nick Achorn, NECEC project manager. “This project has allowed me to move our family back to Maine to work on a project that I know will benefit Maine’s future.”
On the heels of Governor Mills recent announcement that her administration has awarded $5.6 million in CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund money to expand high-speed broadband access in rural Maine, the NECEC will also provide another $15 million in broadband opportunities in Western Maine where upgrades are desperately needed.
The corridor will also increase the state gross domestic product by more than half a billion dollars, increase property tax revenues by $18 million and more than $10 million for economic development and promotion of regional tourism.
“Construction is bringing an influx of Maine workers,” said Joe Christopher, owner of Inn by the River in The Forks. “Inns and restaurants from Jackman to Lewiston are already providing lodging and meals to those building the NECEC. The positive impact of the project is significant and a very much needed economic injection for the area at a time when Covid has negatively affected so many businesses.”
“My employees have been straight out building mats for months,” says Glidden Mats owner Peter Glidden. “This project provides work for not only my company, but for truckers who carry logs to the mills and finished mats to areas of construction.”
Work on the NECEC is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2023. For more information on the project, please go to our website.
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 expected to be completed and the line in service by the second quarter of 2023.
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 here in Maine to get their energy on the grid, and because the corridor project will use clean hydro power, 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 in the region, 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 funding of economic development for Western Maine.
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Contact: Ted Varipatis
Serra Public Affairs
207-415-6182