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Golden Announces DOE Partnership With Deer Isle and Stonington to Boost Energy Reliability and Grid Resilience

August 4, 2023

WASHINGTON - Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) announced a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) and the towns of Deer Isle and Stonington to build local energy systems that are sustainable, resilient, and reliable year-round. 

“Rural communities like Stonington and Deer Isle face enough challenges day-to-day, and keeping the lights on shouldn’t be one of them,” said Golden. “These important grid investments will give families across the peninsula reliable energy, valuable peace of mind, and make these already strong communities just that much more resilient.”

“Many thanks to Representative Golden, Hancock County Emergency Management Agency Andy Sankey, and Island Institute! I am really grateful this ETIPP grant gives us the opportunity to do the research into our Island’s current power needs, see what the electric grid looks like, and how we transition into other future power options like microgrids or battery backup capabilities to sustain bad weather events. Getting this ETIPP grant also enables us to better understand power generation, transmission and distribution systems, incorporating substations to better stabilize power needs and loads, and size power lines to generate electricity with alternative methods to support the Island by being more resilient rather than at the end of the line for service upgrades or essential needs. As we said in our application: ‘knowledge is power, and in this case we clearly want to make sure we do gain knowledge and better position ourselves for our power’s future,’” said Kathleen Billings, Stonington Town Manager.

“Deer Isle will be a more energy efficient and climate resilient island if we work together for a reliable, low-carbon energy future. Our transition from fossil fuels to greater use of utility and distributed electrification is an essential step. ETIPP will accelerate our transition dramatically and will help us to avoid missteps along the way. We are very grateful to Representative Golden, Andrew Sankey with Hancock County Emergency Management, the Island Institute and others that have helped us to join the Energy Transition Innovation Partnership,” said Jim Fischer, Deer Isle Town Manager.

Unreliable power, lack of robust connections to mainstream power grids, and threats from strengthening storms are among the energy challenges faced by remote and island communities. Deer Isle and Stonington frequently experience outages that last up to a week. 

This partnership will allow the community to conduct an energy assessment to understand how renewable and resilient energy options like microgrids, energy storage systems, and other technologies can integrate with the current grid, especially as the  population grows, energy demand increases, and weather increasingly affects energy delivery.

The Deer Isle and Stonington project is one of nine new projects across the country aiming to help remote communities meet their specific energy needs, and will join 23 existing projects that are already part of the ETIPP network. 

ETIPP municipalities work with five regional partner organizations and four national laboratories – including Maine’s Island Institute in Rockland, which has been engaged with coastal communities across the world since 1983.

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