On January 17, 2025 the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) submitted to the Legislature the Maine Energy Plan, a strategic plan for the state to advance affordable, reliable and clean energy for Maine’s people and economy. The Energy Plan highlights the significant progress Maine has made toward achieving its energy goals to date, including investing in energy efficient technologies that are saving Maine people money and expanding homegrown clean energy to boost the state’s energy independence.
The Plan outlines strategies to further reduce energy costs, ensure reliability and resilience, and increase the diversity of energy resources to meet the Governor’s goal of 100 percent clean electricity by 2040. The Plan was informed by an 18-month stakeholder engagement process and an expert technical report – the first of its kind for Maine – which demonstrates 100 percent clean energy is achievable, beneficial, and results in lower overall energy costs across the economy.
The report also found that while Maine’s electricity demand is expected to more than double between now and 2050 as heating and transportation are electrified, total energy use will decrease as Maine shifts away from traditional combustion technologies and toward high efficiency electric technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles. Greater use of electricity across the economy also results in lower electricity prices over time as costs are spread out over a greater number of customers and uses.
The Maine Energy Plan offers five objectives and associated strategies and actions to advance Maine’s energy system and meet the state’s climate and clean energy requirements. The five objectives are:
- Deliver affordable energy for Maine people and businesses
- Ensure Maine’s energy systems are reliable and resilient in the face of growing challenges
- Responsibly advance clean energy
- Deploy efficient technologies to reduce energy costs
- Expand clean energy career opportunities for Maine people and advance innovation
To view the full announcement, visit this page.
Background
In 2023 and 2024, the Governor’s Energy Office conducted a planning effort to achieve the use of 100 percent clean energy in Maine by 2040. Through this effort, GEO engaged the public and key energy stakeholders on actionable and affordable strategies to meet this target, such as through diversifying energy sources in Maine, stabilizing electricity rates, reducing emissions, and supporting jobs and economic investment.
In 2023, Governor Mills called for accelerating Maine’s trajectory to using 100 percent clean electricity to 2040 in her State of the Budget Address in response to the burden placed on Maine people and businesses from high fossil fuel prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Maine Energy Plan is aligned with goals of the state’s climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait, and built upon recent state energy analyses centering on distributed generation, energy storage, offshore wind, renewable energy markets, and strengthening Maine’s clean energy economy. GEO retained The Brattle Group and Evolved Energy Research to conduct a modeling and technical analyses to inform the plan.
In 2019, Governor Mills signed bipartisan legislation that set a requirement for Maine to use 80 percent renewable energy by 2030, and a target of 100 percent by 2050. In 2024, more than 50 percent of Maine's electricity was generated from renewable sources. With over half of households in Maine still reliant on heating oil and kerosene for heating, and the New England electricity grid over-reliant on imported natural gas to generate electricity, Maine remains distinctly vulnerable to price shocks from volatile global energy markets, like those that occurred in 2022.
Public Engagement Activities
GEO hosted five public webinars on the Maine Energy Plan in 2023 and 2024 (see the right-hand column of this page for meeting information). A draft of the technical report was published for comment in October 2024. A summary of findings from the draft report was presented in a webinar hosted by GEO on November 8, 2024. Comments on the draft technical report were accepted until November 18, 2024.
A draft of the Maine Energy Plan was published for comment in December 2024. A summary of the draft plan was provided in a public webinar on December 16, 2024. Comments on the draft Maine Energy Plan were accepted through the end of December. Public comments submitted to GEO on the draft technical report and draft Maine Energy Plan are available here.