MAINE PUBLIC • October 29, 2026
Central Maine Power is pushing the need for a proposed half-billion dollar transmission upgrade around Portland amid growing opposition to the construction plan from some local residents. CMP's Senior Director of Integrated Systems Planning Chris Morin said the proposal is aimed at upgrading power lines and substations in northern Portland suburbs. Some of that equipment is at least 70 years old, Morin said in a briefing to reporters this week. A recent equipment failure at a Yarmouth substation led to an outage for 28,000 customers, Morin said. There are further reliability concerns in equipment across the region, he added. "There are several single points of failure in this area that could result in big impacts to many communities and customers," Morin said.