Maine Revised Statutes Title 35-A. Public Utilities § 3210-K. Renewable energy procurement; repowering and continued maintenance of existing resources

A. Through a competitive solicitation under this section, the commission shall procure an amount of energy or renewable energy credits or a combination of energy and renewable energy credits from eligible Class IA resources that is equal to 5% of the retail electricity sales in this State for the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, as determined by the commission.

B. In conducting the solicitation and selecting eligible Class IA resources for contracts under this section, the commission shall consider the benefits to ratepayers and to the economy as set forth in section 3210-G, subsection 1, paragraph C, subparagraph (2) and must determine that the contract award is more likely than not to produce benefits to ratepayers that exceed costs to ratepayers in the State.

C. If the commission concludes that the solicitation is not competitive or, following a review of bids received, that approval of a contract or contracts is not in the public interest, the commission must make a determination not to award a contract.

A. Be for a term of 10 years unless the commission finds a contract for a longer term to be prudent; and

B. Require that payments to the bidder under the contract be reduced by the stranded costs arising from energy produced during negative price intervals.