EDP Renewables, Central Maine Power and Emera Maine announced they have reached agreements that will enable clean energy from a new wind project in northern Maine to reach southern Maine and New England. The agreements advance the first of several transmission projects CMP and Emera Maine are jointly pursuing to address transmission congestion issues affecting the overall development of renewable generation in the region. The focus of the agreements is EDPRâ s use of a portion of a key transmission corridor known as the Bridal Path, between Houlton and Haynesville in Aroostook County, Maine.

Under the agreements, Emera Maine and CMP are providing EDPR with an option to purchase a portion of the Bridal Path corridor to develop a new transmission line, with Emera Maine and CMP having buy-back rights to purchase EDPR's development in the corridor. The project is being advanced as part of the transmission infrastructure needed to deliver energy from EDPR's Number Nine Wind Farm to the ISO-New England electric grid. The Number Nine wind project, which is currently under development at a site west of Bridgewater, Maine, will have an installed capacity of 250 megawatts.

EDPR already has contracts with electric utilities in Connecticut for the clean energy from the Number Nine Wind Farm, and is in the process of securing necessary permits and approvals for the project. The agreements with CMP and Emera Maine will allow EDPR to move forward in the coming weeks with a formal application to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.