I sponsored a bill, LD 1726, “An Act to Enhance the Coordination and Effectiveness of Integrated Distribution Grid Planning” which was signed into law on June 12. The following is my presentation to the House:
The process for planning our local electric distribution grid is one of the most important tools we have to meet Maine’s goals for electricity affordability, reliability, resilience, and climate. This bill aims to achieve a higher level of coordination among multiple agencies and initiatives that influence the grid planning process.
A distribution grid plan is a blueprint for building and maintaining the local grid, determining the optimum way to serve our growing needs for electricity, whether through new infrastructure, reducing demand, or adding local generation that avoids the need for new power plants. It also seeks to optimize how that grid operates, minimizing new investments, allowing the grid to operate more like a network and permitting far higher utilization of the wires that are there, ensuring that the grid operates at maximum capacity.
Every single one of these factors directly impacts what customers pay for electricity.
Over the last 6 years the state has begun multiple initiatives and strategies that impact grid planning, conducted by several state agencies, such as electrification, energy storage, demand management, and new energy procurements. They all tend to be managed as distinct programs, sometimes without formal coordination. Many have a direct impact on grid plans
This bill does not alter the current planning cycle but applies to future cycles. I see this bill as a “tune-up” of the process to better coordinate and manage future planning.
Consistency of forecast methods. The forecast of load is an essential element to grid plans.
The bill ensures that forecast methodologies used by the grid planning process and state agencies are consistent with the Energy Plan when possible.
Integration of new technologies improving efficiency of grid operation. There are now technologies that improve the efficiency and reliability of the grid. With them we can get more power to consumers using the existing grid reducing the need for new power sources. For example, the Governor’s Energy Office is pursuing a program that uses software and hardware to enhance grid stability, regulate voltage, and increase transmission capacity on existing lines. Additionally, the bill encourages the incorporation of grid monitoring measures through the use of sensors checking for power quality, reliability, state of the infrastructure, and distributed generation output. The bill promotes their use and incorporation in grid plans.
Coordination of grid plans into power procurement decisions. When procurements of local power sources are conducted in isolation from the grid planning process, unintended consequences can occur.
Maine has already experienced this in its solar program through procurements that did not optimize project location to minimize infrastructure investments. While some level of coordination among agencies that direct procurement does occur, there is no formal requirement for close linkage between the attributes of these procurements and grid plans. The bill ensures such coordination occurs.
Review of Non Wires Alternative Program. In the 129th, legislation established a “nonwires alternative” program, requiring proposals for new infrastructure to serve demand to consider alternatives such as meeting that demand with local power sources or managing that demand through load control and efficiency measures. Nonwire alternatives and demand management are in fact essential tools used to formulate a grid plan. Currently the PUC is in charge of the planning process, the lead for non-wire alternatives is in the Office of Consumer Advocate, and the lead for demand management is Efficiency Maine. The bill requires the three agencies involved to assess the current situation and develop recommendations on how that process could be improved.
As to arguments that greater coordination between the State Energy Plan and grid planning erodes the independence of the PUC- Its independence is preserved through its quasi-judicial function. Infrastructure investment, and new technology introduction, as well as energy procurements, are policy-driven questions, and it is appropriate that our legislatively mandated energy plan guide that direction. And they all directly impact grid planning.
By integrating the energy plan into the planning process, we ensure that grid investments are not made in a policy vacuum or create costly unintended consequences, as what happened in the disconnect with early solar procurements and infrastructure planning. The energy plan itself is subject to public input, legislative review, and regular updates, offering transparency and accountability. In contrast, a purely utility-initiated planning process can lack clear public priorities or coordination across sectors.
Increased coordination with the state energy plan enhances—rather than compromises—the quality and legitimacy of grid planning. It grounds utility decisions in a broader public interest framework, while preserving the PUC’s neutral role in reviewing and approving those decisions.
In summary, LD 1726 is a collection of measures to improve the grid planning process and strengthen the coordination between Maine’s energy agencies and the planning process by strengthening its governance by establishing more formal linkages to activities that have a direct impact on, or perhaps should be subject to, the findings of a grid plan.
LD 1726 is just good management. I urge a vote for “Ought to Pass.”