SUN JOURNAL • March 21, 2021
If the planned hydropower transmission line between the Canadian border and Lewiston is successfully built, it will include a fiber optic line that communities could access along the 145-mile route through many areas that have lackluster or nonexistent internet. The new line would have about 70 spots where communities could tie into. In addition, NECEC Transmission, which oversees the $1 billion project, is paying $10 million into a fund to help cover the costs of tying into the new fiber optic line. Another part of the project is adding towers between Windsor and Wiscasset that will also have a fiber line included, providing coverage for another area that isn’t well-served with broadband. Construction has begun on the controversial New England Clean Energy Connect project, but critics are still fighting to stop it in court or at the ballot box.