Draft Maine Order Would Deny Emera Northern Maine CCN, Would Preserve and Study Integrating Northern Maine Into ISO-NE

A report from two Maine PUC hearing examiners would deny a CCN sought by Emera Maine for a transmission line to address reliability concerns in the former Maine Public Service area, within the Northern Maine Independent System Administrator, and would open a second phase of the proceeding to further investigate integration of the Northern Maine service area with ISO New England as a solution to reliability concerns.

Emera Maine had proposed a 138 kV transmission line from Monticello, Maine to Woodstock, New Brunswick to address certain reliability concerns, strengthening the existing transmission interconnection with New Brunswick

The hearing examiners would deny this proposal, instead finding that a transformer upgrade is the least cost short-term solution.

Integrating Northern Maine with ISO-NE was proposed as an alternative to resolve the reliability issues, but the hearing examiners would conclude there is insufficient evidence in the record to provide a sufficient basis upon which to conclude that there would be net benefits to northern Maine from an interconnection with ISO-NE

However, the hearing examiners would find that further study of ISO-NE integration is warranted, and would open a second phase of the proceeding to further investigate the issues.

"Despite the lack of sufficient evidence in this case regarding the costs and benefits of an ISO-NE interconnection, the question of whether the benefits exceed the costs of the various ISO-NE interconnection proposals is one that we intend to pursue in Phase Two. We also will examine, alternatively, if northern Maine remains isolated from competitive markets, whether changes should be made to return the region to a vertically integrated and regulated utility regime for generation/supply. To examine these questions in the context of the ISO-NE interconnection proposals and explore potential options, we will commence Phase Two of this proceeding as an investigation, because with our denial of Emera’s CPCN, there is no longer a CPCN petition before us. The investigation will incorporate the evidence from this proceeding and the Notice of Investigation will outline the specific issues to be addressed, as well as the initial steps in the process. The Commission will consider consolidating the investigation with any CPCN petitions filed by the parties seeking approval of proposed lines," the hearing examiners recommended

Docket No. 2014-00048