PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 5, 2021
There’s no escaping it: we must invest massively and strategically in a transformed electric grid – resilient, dynamic and capable of flexible two-way flows. This is essential to a sustainable future featuring “beneficial electrification,” decarbonizing our energy system and everyday lives. Although energy systems and economics are complex, a basic, three-tier solution exists, if we have the wisdom and fortitude to embrace it: Empower a statewide consumer-owned utility; assign grid planning to a group that functions in the public interest, and regulate utilities rigorously. Maine needs to become dramatically more effective in designing, building and operating the grid of the future. ~ David Vail, Solar Energy Association of Maine board member and emeritus professor of economics at Bowdoin College