Maine
Maine still relies heavily on fossil fuels but calls zero-carbon goals ‘achievable’
Maine energy officials on Friday offered a sober assessment of the state’s reliance on fossil fuels as they released a plan touting advances in electric heat pumps and electric vehicles and outlined ambitious goals for offshore wind, clean energy jobs and other features of a zero-carbon environment.
More than a year in the making, the Maine Energy Plan released by the Governor’s Energy Office boasted of the state’s “nation-leading adoption” of heat pumps and heat pump water heaters, helping to reduce the state’s dependence on heating oil, a goal set in state law in 2011. A technical report in the energy plan demonstrates that Maine’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2040 is “achievable, beneficial and results in reduced energy costs across the economy,” it said.
More than 17,500 all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or 1.5% of the state’s 1.2 million registered light-duty vehicles, are traveling Maine roads, the most ever, the Governor’s Energy Office said. The state’s network of charging stations has expanded to more than 1,000 ports for public use.
“While the electrification shift will increase Maine’s overall electricity use over time, total energy costs will decrease as Maine people spend significantly less on costly fossil fuels and swap traditional combustion technologies for more efficient electric options,” the report said.
The Governor’s Energy Office spent $500,000 for the analysis and outreach to various groups that participated in meetings organized by a consulting group, said a spokeswoman for the state agency. Funding was from a 2019 agreement related to the New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project.
Maine remains the most dependent on home heating fuel in the U.S., the Governor’s Energy Office said, and more than half of electricity produced in New England is generated using natural gas. Maine spends more than $4.5 billion on imported fossil fuels each year, including gasoline and heating oil, with combustion contributing to climate change that’s causing more frequent and severe extreme storms, the report said. Last year was the warmest on record, it said.
Several winter storms last year and in 2023 caused more than $90 million in damage to public infrastructure and received federal disaster declarations, the report said.
Petroleum accounted for nearly 50% of energy consumed in the state in 2021, with electricity at 22.5%, wood at 16.3% and natural gas at nearly 11%, according to the state.
Maine has made progress reducing the share of households that rely on fuel oil for home heating, to 53% in 2023 from 70% in 2010. In contrast, electricity to heat homes has climbed to 13% of households from 5% in the same period.
The state still has some distance to cover to reach other goals. For example, the state has set a goal of 275,000 heat pumps installed by 2027.
The report said 143,857 heat pumps were installed between 2019 and 2024, increasing each year, according to Efficiency Maine Trust. And 54,405 heat pump water heaters were installed in the same six years.
Officials also have set a target of 30,000 clean energy jobs by 2030. Employers would have to double the existing number in less than eight years: A study in May 2024 said Maine’s “clean energy economy” accounted for 15,000 jobs at the end of 2022.
The report cites targets for more energy storage and distributed generation, which is power produced close to consumers such as rooftop solar power, fuel cells or small wind turbines.
Among the more ambitious targets that Maine has set for itself is to generate 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2040, a big goal in the next 15 years for an industry that is only now beginning to take shape.
Two energy companies in October committed nearly $22 million in an offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Maine. The state’s offshore wind research project, also in the Gulf of Maine, is the subject of negotiations over costs among state regulators, the project’s developers and the Maine public advocate.
In addition, the federal government has turned down Maine’s application for $456 million to build an offshore wind port at Sears Island, complicating the state’s work as it looks to enter the offshore wind industry.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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