BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 21, 2025
After years of political and legal setbacks, a new power corridor through western Maine has received the final permit needed to get the project online by its goal of December 2025. When Maine regulators first approved the New England Clean Energy Connect corridor that will carry hydropower from Quebec into Massachusetts, conservationists won a key concession from the project: developers were required to permanently conserve 50,000 acres in the area of the corridor. On Wednesday, Central Maine Power parent company Avangrid received the final approval it needed from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to conserve that area of the Maine wilderness. This means that, once testing and commissioning is done, the power corridor could be online by the end of the year. The $1.5 billion power line is designed to help Massachusetts meet its climate goals.