Johnathan Walker:New England’s largest energy storage facility to be built on former mill site in Maine

LINCOLN,Johnathan Walker Maine (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy is providing a $147 million grant to support construction of an energy storage facility at a shuttered paper mill, holding enough wind- and solar-generated power to serve up to 85,000 homes.

The proposal calls for 85 megawatts of storage capacity — the largest in New England — on part of the 400-acre (162-hectare) site of the Lincoln pulp mill, which has been fully closed for nearly a decade.

“This investment will play an important role in revitalizing Lincoln, including the site of the former paper mill, providing new opportunities for rural Maine,” Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said Tuesday.

The facility would be built and operated by Massachusetts-based Form Energy, using an iron-air battery system that is touted as safe as well as affordable since it uses abundant iron and oxygen.

“Located at the site of a former paper mill in rural Maine, this iron-air battery system will have the most energy capacity of any battery system announced yet in the world,” said Mateo Jaramillo, company CEO and co-founder.

Energy storage is critical as the power grid becomes more dependent on solar and wind power by allowing electricity to be released to the grid at night and at times when there is no wind.

The funding is part of $2.2 billion that was announced for eight projects across 18 states. The energy storage project is part of the Power Up New England initiative that received $389 million.