September 20, 2024

This week, I welcomed my friend, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to Maine to celebrate a $36 million grant from the federal government that we've been awarded through the Inflation Reduction Act. That award will help thousands of Maine people install heat pumps, save money on energy costs and cut our carbon emissions in the critical fight against climate change.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

We took the next step in distributing that funding from the Department of Energy by announcing the availability of the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates, or HEAR Program. HEAR Rebates administered by Efficiency Maine Trust will cover between 85 and 100 percent of the cost of installing heat pumps in low-income manufactured homes and in new, affordable multifamily housing units to cover an estimated 3000 people in Maine.

This latest grant from the Biden-Harris administration builds on our efforts over these past five-and-a-half years to transition to renewable energy and to build more affordable and efficient housing in Maine. When I took office in 2019, Maine was one of the most heating oil dependent states in the country. We were sending $4 to $5 billion a year out of pocket and into the pockets of big oil and gas companies out of state. I pledged to change that in part by helping Maine people transition to heat pumps instead of costly, inefficient, harmful heating oil.

High-performance heat pumps are affordable. They're efficient, they're easy to use, and they're accessible. They work well in cold climates like ours, and they are much more efficient than window air conditioning in the summer when used for cooling.

In 2019, with the support of the legislature, I signed a bill that set a goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps by 2025. Well, in 2023, we met that goal two years early and we became a nationwide leader in the installation of heat pumps.

Expanding the use of high-efficiency heat pumps also sparked a demand for heat pump installers and distributors and sellers, and to meet that demand, the community colleges set up a curriculum to train these workers. And we made community college free for high school graduates, and we expanded apprenticeships and we boosted scholarships and student debt relief. Many clean energy jobs like heat pump installation are good-paying jobs with benefits.

In addition to expanding job training, we also funded innovative startups through our partnerships with the Roux Institute and Coastal Enterprises and Central Maine Growth Council to support clean energy jobs. And we funded new clean energy workforce training programs in adult ed and schools in Biddeford, Portland, Freeport, Augusta, Orono and Oxford Hills.

Well, Maine's clean energy economy and our clean energy workforce is the fastest growing in New England, and it has grown more than three times faster than our overall economy. Good paying jobs with benefits.

To keep the momentum going and to make sure that people across Maine, particularly those in rural Maine, can stay comfortable in their homes and save money in the process, I set a new, ambitious target of installing another 175,000 heat pumps by 2027.

Earlier this year, we were part of a $450 million regional award from the EPA that will deliver more than $70 million to Maine for heat pump adoption. We also received $10 million from the Department of Energy to support our heat pump goals and to install heat pumps specifically in mobile homes across the state of Maine. You know, about eight percent of our housing stock in Maine is mobile homes, and they're tough to heat efficiently and affordably.

On top of those grants, we've now received this $36 million award that we've used to start the new rebate program and to keep bringing down energy costs for Maine people. Well, that totals more than $115 million in new federal support for heat pump adoption and efficiency across Maine just this year from the Biden-Harris Administration.

These investments are truly going to make life better for Maine people, and I want to thank President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Granholm, Senator King, and Representatives Pingree and Golden for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act, which made this grant and other rebate programs possible.

To see if you're eligible for a rebate program or other energy efficiency measures, please visit efficiency Maine's website at EfficiencyMaine.com.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.