MAINE PUBLIC • March 17, 2026
A planned 10 megawatt, gas-fired power plant to provide electricity and heat to a major redevelopment on the Portland waterfront is stoking opposition from neighbors and climate activists in the city. Barbara Vestal, who lives on Fore Street near the proposed development said she and others were shocked and surprised to learn about developer PF Land LCC's plans for the power plant. The company has requested that Maine Public Utilities Commission rule its facility will not be regulated as an electric utility. Vestal said the proposal is a major deviation from a master plan for the $1 billion housing, retail, office and hotel development on the 10-acre site of the former Portland Co. approved a decade ago. "It's bringing a major source of emissions, and noise and vibration to this neighborhood," Vestal said.