Who is LS Power?

(this is a guest post by my husband)

LS Power was founded in 1990 by Mikhail “Mike” Segal. Prior to founding LS Power Mike worked for the Department of Energy in the former Soviet Union, where he was born, lived and worked until he emigrated to the United States in 1978. (1) LS Power has raised more than $48 billion dollars since its inception and has grown to become one of the largest power and energy infrastructure developers in the US. (2)

In addition to LS Power’s deployed $48 billion in projects, (which, for context, is greater than the economies of countries like El Salvador or Iceland) they have also recently launched LS Power Equity Advisors which currently has $ 6,458,181,987 ($6.4 billion) under management. (3)

Founder Mike Segal describes his strategy for deploying billions of dollars in investment capital as “seeking out projects with high barriers to entry. The reason to like those deals is there is limited competition for them, and they usually offer the best rewards”. (4)

In this case, central Maine organic and heritage farmers pose the preferred “high barrier to entry,” which will be paid for by the people of Maine and Massachusetts, whose governors have pledged the faith and credit of their state and its people to pay Mike Segal at LS Power the “best rewards” in the market, as he likes to say.

We have to wonder who invested these billions in LS Power in the first place. LS Power is a private company, so we don’t know for sure: but what we do know is that it is not your average investor with a 401k. It would be nice for our public utilities to be serving the interests of people of Maine, instead of billionaires from away.

(1) https://www.lspower.com/management-team-2/

(2) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ls-power-issues-sustainability-report-for-2021-highlighting-energy-transition-platforms-community-engagement-dei-and-a-focus-on-reliability-and-affordability-301590098.html

(3) https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/158272

(4) https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ls-power-aims-to-shake-up-renewables-development-with-new-approach-to-risk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesegal1

LS Power Grid Maine is an “affiliate” of LS Power. They list one other prior project in Maine - Kibby Wind Power - on the parent company website.

LS Power Grid Maine LLC is registered in Massachusetts, (not Maine) and appears to be a subsidiary of LS Power Grid Maine LLC registered in Delaware.

Historically, Delaware has had perhaps the most business friendly privacy and liability shields, hence the choice of Delaware as a home base for the corporate structure.

Most importantly, townspeople should browse all the documents on the documents page.