Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 10044 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine stock; leah brown Dr. Rich Silkman slips a tiny piece of Maine off the grid. Take that, CMP! B etween 2010 and 2015, Central Maine Power carried out the larg- est construction project in Maine’s history. Known as the Maine Power Reli- ability Program (MPRP), the $1.4 billion project saw the installation of more than 400 miles of transmission lines as well as the construction and rehabilitation of more than 40 electrical substations. But if you ask economist Rich Silk- man, it was all a bit of a waste. Silkman, 65, should know. As former director of the Maine State Planning Office and founder of Portland-based energy consulting firms Competitive Energy Services and Grid So- lar, he’s been around the grid with Maine’s energy industry more than a few times. “The need for the program was predi- cated on two things,” Silkman says. “First, significant predicted load growth in Maine. Second, [there was a requirement] to meet reliability conditions when the load is at its peak level.” This means that CMP expected Maine’s electricity consumption to rise over time, in turn stressing the grid. Ahead of this, it wanted to build extra high voltage wires as a back up system in case of a power out- age. “Summertime in New England is when the [electricity] load peaks–it’s all air-con- ditioner driven. Summertime is also when the electric grid has the least capacity be- cause electric systems function better in cold weather than in warm weather…That’s your choke point.” However, back in 2009 when CMP was proposing the massive construction proj- ect, Silkman and his colleagues were inves- tigating cheaper, cleaner alternatives. After forming Grid Solar, Silkman and his busi- ness partners presented their own plan for meeting Maine’s expected energy demands to the Public Utilities Commission. Instead of building more transmission lines to increase the supply of electricity flowing into the state, Grid Solar wanted to install a series of smaller, less expensive technologies to conserve energy and pre- vent the existing electrical grid from get- ting overloaded. “This was brand new. Nobody had ever proposed doing something like this before,” Silkman says. An agreement was reached that CMP would “build the backbone of their system for $1.3 billion, give or take,” in most of the state, but Greater Portland and the Mid- coast region would be left aside for Silkman and his colleagues to try alternatives. They chose Boothbay Harbor as their first test site, calling it the Boothbay Pilot Project. As a small, rural town with a slew of businesses that open exclusively for the summertime, Boothbay is a prime location Energy anarchist Dr. Rich Silkman believes your tax dollars could be better spent on greener power initiatives. He’s proven it in Boothbay. Next stop, Portland? Silkman’s Boothbay Pilot Project totaled $6M compared to the $18M CMP would have spent running transmission lines along the Boothbay Peninsula. 10. Silkman on the rooftop deck of his Portland office at 148 Middle Street.