Tim Burgess (IBEW 104): “Upgrading Maine’s Grid is Key to Securing a Clean Energy Future”

However, as IBEW 104 Assistant Business Manager points out in a recent guest column in the Maine Beacon, it is critical that we also invest in modernizing our aging electrical grid so it can handle the deployment of so many new renewable energy projects and the electrification of our buildings, heating and transportation. These technologies are expected to more than double peak electricity demand by 2050, according to a study by regional grid operator ISO New England. 

“There’s no question that this transition is necessary,” wrote Burgess. “But without investments to significantly expand and modernize our regional electric grid – and comparable investments in growing the next generation of highly skilled, unionized workers to build and maintain it – keeping the lights on will become increasingly challenging.”

As Burgess notes, electrifying buildings and transportation will require the grid to adapt to new patterns in peak demand, both throughout any given day and across the year. 

“Compared to fossil fuels, renewable energy is also typically generated much farther from where it is consumed,” he wrote. “Maine’s relative abundance of land and low population density, for example, mean it will almost certainly become a net exporter of renewable energy to southern New England. All of this adds up to an immense transmission and distribution challenge.”

In order to prevent New England’s transmission lines from becoming overloaded and causing black outs during peak electrical demand times in the summer and winter, Burgess notes that the New England States Transmission Initiative, a multi-state effort is working to pool resources to invest in transmission upgrades and expansion to enable the expansion of renewables while improving overall grid reliability and affordability.

“Union Labor has had an overwhelming presence on recent transmission construction projects, including the 440-mile Maine Power Reliability (MPRP) project in 2010-2014, and the New England Clean Energy Connect work,” wrote Burgess. “These jobs provide not only family- and community-sustaining wages and benefits, but also provide top-notch training through their apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, whose earn-while-you-learn model opens up lifelong career opportunities for those without access to college.”