The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Maine $147 million to construct a multi-day energy storage system in Lincoln that it says will “enhance grid resilience and optimize the delivery of renewable energy.”
Located at the site of the former Lincoln Mill, this facility will be the first of its kind in New England and represents the “largest long-duration energy storage project” worldwide to date.
Among the members of Maine’s Congressional delegation speaking out in support of this award are Sen. Susan Collins (R), Sen. Angus King (I), and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D); comments from Rep. Jared Golden (D) were not included in a press release distributed by the Mills Administration.
This grant comes as part of a larger $389 million sum awarded to New England more broadly “to strengthen the regional electric grid and advance the deployment of clean energy” through the Power Up New England project.
Under this initiative, “significant investments” will be made into “regional electric infrastructure,” such as to prepare Massachusetts and Connecticut for up to 4,800 megawatts of “additional offshore wind energy.”
With Maine’s portion of this funding, Form Energy, based in Somerville, Mass., will develop an 85-megawatt storage facility at the Lincoln Technology Park that utilizes “iron-air technology” to allow the battery to continuously discharge energy for just over four days.
Although iron-air batteries are not yet broadly available in commercial markets, the technology has shown promise as a more cost-effective grid-scale battery than other, more common lithium-based batteries.
Funds will also be used to “strengthen the transmission system to support the delivery of higher loads of power from renewables, including nearby onshore wind turbines.”
According to Gov. Janet Mills’ (D) press release published Tuesday, this award “signifies meaningful progress toward Maine’s goal of 400 megawatts of energy storage installed by the end of 2030.”
“Maine is a national leader in advancing clean energy and innovation, which will strengthen our economy, stabilize high energy costs driven by fossil fuels, and create good job opportunities all across our state. This award is a recognition of that leadership,” Gov. Mills said.
“Through collaboration with other New England states to develop innovative energy solutions like Power Up, Maine is taking proactive steps to ensure our energy future is clean, reliable, and affordable,” Mills continued. “This investment will play an important role in revitalizing Lincoln, including the site of the former paper mill, providing new opportunities for rural Maine.”
“A crucial aspect of the bipartisan infrastructure law I helped negotiate was the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program,” said Sen. Collins, “which seeks to modernize our electric grid infrastructure, to allow for the deployment of energy storage and other innovative energy solutions.”
“This investment will help revitalize the Town of Lincoln, formerly a mill town, while allowing New England to strengthen its electric grid to allow for the incorporation of new clean energy sources in the future,” Collins said.
“Energy storage is the key to fully unlocking the immense potential of renewable energy, and improving the resiliency of Maine’s power grid,” said Sen. King.
“This first-of-its-kind energy storage system in New England will provide up to four days’ worth of backup power for Maine — a significant step forward with the extreme weather we are seeing more of,” King continued. “But this is not just an enormous step forward for renewables and strengthening our energy infrastructure, it’s also a story of renewal for the Lincoln area.”
“This storage system, which will be built on the former site of the Lincoln Pulp and Tissue Mill, will provide well-paying jobs and workforce development for the hardworking men and women of Lincoln and its neighboring communities,” King concluded.
“Boosting grid resilience and advancing renewable energy storage innovation is key to unlocking a clean energy future. Thanks to the historic investments made by the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that future is well within reach,” said Rep. Pingree.
“This groundbreaking multi-day energy storage system in Lincoln will be the largest of its kind in the world and the first in New England, revolutionizing our grid resilience and renewable energy capacity,” Rep. Pingree continued.
“This award is a testament to Maine’s leadership in sustainable innovation, and will pave the way for stable energy costs, job creation, and a robust response to climate change,” she concluded.
Lincoln Town Manager Richard Bronson also weighed in on the newly-awarded funding.
“We are thrilled to welcome this significant investment from the U.S. Department of Energy, which further makes Lincoln a leader in technology and innovation,” said Bronson. “This award will enable us to welcome cutting-edge technology that supports our town, our state, and our region by creating jobs, strengthening the electrical grid, and enabling the delivery of clean, reliable energy to power homes and businesses.”
Click Here to Read Gov. Mills’ Full Press Release
This is just one of several federal grants that Maine has received recently to pursue a variety of climate-related goals and projects.
At the end of July, the state was awarded a $69 million “climate resilience grant” from the federal government designed to help “protect Maine’s communities, environment, and working waterfronts from extreme storms, flooding, and rising sea levels.”
With this grant, the state government intends to expand the Community Resilience Partnership, support the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund, and establish a “resiliency office” within the state government to lead “cross-agency efforts to enhance climate resilience across the state, especially in communities with significant climate vulnerabilities impacting residents, infrastructure, and the environment.”
[RELATED: Maine Receives $69 Million “Climate Resilience Grant” from Federal Government]
Around this same time, Maine was given part of a $450 million grant to “accelerate the adoption of heat pump technology” throughout the state.
Five New England states — including Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island — were given a combined total of $450 million in federal funding for the joint New England Heat Pump Accelerator project.
The goal of this project is to install nearly 580,000 heat pumps throughout New England, covering 65 percent of “residential-scale” heating and cooling sales by 2030 and 90 percent by 2040.
