The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) has awarded more than $300 million in contracts to build and upgrade transmission and provide land clearing for the transmission line project. The contracts were awarded to Maine-based Cianbro in a joint venture with Irby Construction, Sargent Electric, and Northern Clearing, Inc. (NCI). The companies said they will subcontract work to other Maine-based suppliers, contractors and consultants and hire Maine workers when possible.“The clean energy corridor will bring jobs and significant economic benefits to Maine,” said Thorn Dickinson, president & CEO of NECEC LLC Transmission. “In addition to the 1,600 jobs that will be created annually during construction, the project will indirectly support employment in local businesses in towns from Jackman to Lewiston. The clean energy corridor is projected to inject more than $570 million into Maine’s economy and these contracts represent $300 million that is going to Maine companies to deliver high quality jobs for Mainers.”Cianbro and Irby Construction will construct the new, high-voltage DC transmission line that will run 145 miles from the Canadian border to a substation in Lewiston. Sargent Electric will perform transmission line upgrades required for the project, specifically on a segment from Wiscasset to Windsor and others in the Lewiston-Auburn area. NCI will provide all clearing and access road improvement work.“This is a significant contract for our company and our state. We are eager to put Maine people to work on this important project that brings both clean energy and economic benefits to the State,” said Andi Vigue, president and CEO at Cianbro. The NECEC project is still awaiting final permits and approval to start construction. Officials say they expect those permits to be granted in the second quarter of this year with construction on the project to be finished in 2022.A citizen's initiative to block the project is moving forward after the Secretary of State certified that a petition drive collected enough signatures.The NECEC plan is to deliver 1,200 megawatts of renewable hydropower to the New England energy grid in Lewiston. Plans call for the 145-mile transmission line to be built on land owned or controlled by Central Maine Power.