Analysis of Maine's Expanded Renewable Portfolio Standards
Maine Renewable Energy Association
Project completed May 2019
On behalf of the Maine Renewable Energy Association and other Maine stakeholders, Synapse partnered with Sustainable Energy Advantage to assess the impacts associated with expanding Maine’s Class I renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 50 percent by 2030. This analysis found that expanding the RPS would result in several benefits:
- Create 170 jobs per year between 2020 and 2030
- Improve public health by curbing air pollution, avoiding $500,000 per year in public health damages between 2020 and 2030
- Add 700 MW of new, in-state renewable energy projects
- Result in minimal impact on Maine’s ratepayers, with only slight increases in residential bills of $1.16 to $1.76 per month between 2020 and 2030
- Reduce Maine’s reliance on fossil fuels by 5% and curb greenhouse-gas emissions from the electric sector attributable to Maine by 55%