Solar for ME

Solar Power for Maine People

Powered by the sun – via panels many miles away

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Tux Turkel of the Portland Press Herald reports on a group of homeowners who will soon be enjoying solar power production – from a solar farm array located miles away from their homes!  This is an exciting development in Maine’s solar energy resource; we hope the dawn of ‘community solar farms’ will allow many more Mainers to go solar!

From the PPH:

Falling prices for solar-electric panels are enticing Mainers who want to install them at their homes. That’s not an option, however, for Jim Atwell, an environmental engineer from Falmouth. He lives in a condominium, and the homeowners’ association won’t allow a solar array on the roof.

But starting next month, Atwell will begin meeting 80 percent of his annual electric demand with solar panels – installed 50 miles away on the roof of an old chicken barn in the Oxford Hills.

Russ Florenz of Sunnycroft Farm talks with ReVision Energy electrician Bill Levay as he installs inverters in a barn that will soon get 200 roof solar panels. ReVision Energy hopes it’s the first of many community solar farms for people unable to install panels on their own properties.

Russ Florenz of Sunnycroft Farm talks with ReVision Energy electrician Bill Levay as he installs inverters in a barn that will soon get 200 roof solar panels. ReVision Energy hopes it’s the first of many community solar farms for people unable to install panels on their own properties. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Atwell will become one of nine Mainers who are shareholders in the state’s first community solar farm. The farm is a shared solar project that feeds power from the sun into the electric grid. Each member owns a slice of the total power produced and gets a credit on his electric bill. After the initial investment is repaid, the shareholders’ electricity is essentially free.

Atwell’s 12 percent share in the project is costing him roughly $14,000, and he’ll save an estimated $1,100 a year on his bill. That’s a long payback, but money isn’t his primary motivator.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “It’s something I believe in.”

Full article at: http://www.pressherald.com/2014/09/22/powered-by-the-sun-via-panels-many-miles-away/

CMP’s new rate plan would add $3 to bills

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CMP’s intended ‘standby fee’ to penalize solar customers has been abandoned, but in its place is a system-wide increase of $3/mo on electric bills.

As reported by Tux Turkel:

Home customers of Central Maine Power Co. would see their overall bills rise roughly $3 a month if a rate-case settlement proposed by the utility and endorsed by key business and environmental parties is accepted by the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

The settlement also would “decouple” the revenue CMP earns from electricity sales, adopting a formula that gives the utility an incentive to participate in the state’s energy-efficiency programs, rather than promote electric sales in an attempt to boost earnings.

Gone is a controversial bid to get customers that generate some of their own power from solar and other renewable sources to pay higher monthly service charges.

The settlement agreement, called a stipulation, deals only with the costs of distributing electricity from the street to homes and businesses. It doesn’t include the costs of building large transmission lines or for energy supply, both of which have been rising lately.

CMP filed its proposal with the PUC on Thursday. The commission is expected to deliberate on it July 29.

More: http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/07/proposed-agreement-would-raise-cmp-home-rates-3-month/

Solar Energy bill becomes law without Gov. LePage’s signature

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A solar energy bill that passed through the legislature with overwhelming support became law without his Governor Paul LePage’s signature.

“For a decade lawmakers have worked together in a bipartisan manner to move Maine’s energy policy forward, and we continue to do so with this law,” said Democratic Senator Eloise VItelli of Arrowsic, the sponsor of the bill.“Maine is one of the most oil-dependent states in the country. This law will give the people in our state an opportunity to do something about that.”

Maine spends $5 billion per year importing fossil fuels and is the most petroleum-dependent state for home heating, with more than 70 percent of households using it as their primary heating source. According to a 2010 report, rooftop solar panels alone could provide 24 percent of Maine’s electricity.

For the first time, Maine will have specific goals in law for increasing the use of solar energy. These new statutory goals for solar energy include: ensuring that solar energy provides energy that benefits all ratepayers regardless of income level; increasing the number of businesses and residences using solar technology as an energy resource; and increasing the State’s workforce engaged in the manufacturing and installation of solar technology.

The new law also directs the Public Utilities Commission to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and costs of solar so that policymakers have good information about the quantifiable value of solar energy for Maine homeowners and businesses.

More at: http://maineinsights.com/solar-energy-bill-becomes-law-without-go