Wind power is finally coming to northern Maine — but can it beat years of delays?

Northern Maine has some of the strongest winds in all of New England, but for years that wind power has gone to waste. There are no big power lines to carry electricity from Aroostook County down to where people actually live. Now, Maine's Public Utilities Commission is trying once again to fix that problem by picking companies to build wind farms and new power lines in the region.

The commission put out a call for project proposals in December 2025 and closed the latest round of bidding recently. It says it may start choosing winners this month. If the plan works, at least 1,200 megawatts of power could flow to the New England grid — enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

This is not the first time Maine has tried to make this happen. Back in 2021, the commission accepted proposals and even picked some projects, but the whole process fell apart by 2023 without any deals being signed. The COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs made things harder for the developers. The state also brought in Massachusetts to help share costs, but it was too late to save the effort.

This time around, Maine is working closely with Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont from the very start. The idea is for all five states to share the cost of building a new transmission line that would connect Aroostook County to the rest of New England. Experts say starting the planning together early gives this effort a much better chance of success.

So why does northern Maine matter so much for clean energy? 'Northern Maine is a fantastic wind resource,' said Eliza Donoghue, who leads the Maine Renewable Energy Association. Wind power is generally cheaper to build and run than power plants that burn oil or natural gas. Wind also tends to blow hardest at night and in winter — exactly when New England needs energy the most and prices tend to spike.

During cold winter nights, natural gas is in short supply because most of it goes to heat people's homes. Power companies are then forced to turn on older, more expensive 'peaking' plants that run on oil. These plants are a big reason why energy bills in New England are so high. Replacing them with wind power could save money for families and businesses across the region.

Building wind farms has gotten cheaper over the years, but the transmission lines needed to move that electricity remain very expensive. The projects chosen back in 2021 would have cost about $1.7 billion over 30 years. That price tag was part of why those earlier plans fell through, and landowners along the proposed 140-mile route also pushed back hard against the project.

One major concern this time is what is happening at the federal level. The Trump administration has focused on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, rolling back programs that supported renewable energy. It has also slowed down required government reviews of new wind farms, which has delayed projects across the country for months.

Even if everything goes well, these new wind projects will not be built overnight. Experts say construction likely would not start for several years, with the best-case scenario being that farms and power lines are running sometime in the 2030s. For now, the people of Aroostook County — and all of New England — are watching and waiting to see if this latest attempt will finally succeed.