Maine municipalities pull back on solar projects after veto kills bill

[jpak]

Source: Portland Press Herald

Several Maine communities are reconsidering or shelving plans to build large-scale solar energy projects in the aftermath of a failed bid to reform Maine’s solar regulations.

A handful of cities and towns, including Falmouth, Portland, South Portland and Rockland, were planning to install photoelectric panels on top of capped landfills that otherwise have no use. The installations could provide renewable power to municipal buildings, schools and streetlights and reduce municipal electricity costs.

The projects appealed to residents who want to reduce carbon emissions. And private solar developers were expected to invest millions of dollars to build the arrays.

However, the projects needed the Legislature to change the way solar producers are compensated for the power they generate and allow larger projects to offset their construction costs. Gov. Paul LePage vetoed that legislation last month, and the Maine Public Utilities Commission will soon consider whether to change the existing system for crediting small-scale solar power generators who feed energy back into the grid. The regulatory challenges and uncertainty about the future have stopped at least one municipal solar project before it got off the ground, and thrown others into limbo.

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Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/18/maine-municipalities-pull-back-on-solar-projects-after-veto/

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Fuck LePage



yup

[BillZBubb]

1. The voters of Maine elected the guy. They knew what they were getting.

[Blue_Adept]

2. to some degree; they got screwed over - again - by a three way vote

[jpak]

3. Again - he never got a majority of votes in the 3-way races he won

More Mainers voted against him - both times.

That is why we will be voting on ranked choice voting this Nov.

yup

[Dustlawyer]

4. Due to power plant lobbyists many states refuse to require solar power generators fair market rates

for their power generated and are piling on fees to kill solar power sales, it's working! We are doing the opposite of what needs to be done!

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Yep.

In NC they will only credit me for kWhs produced, and carry over any excess to the next month. They will keep rolling over until May 31st, when they simply wipe out any "surplus" I have. That and they charge me $11.28 a month just to have their service. So, even in months when I produce all my own power, I still have to pay them.

[Hestia]

6. You can thank the Kock Brothers for these laws around the nation. If you have solar

installations, you are a freeloader on the system and should pay more if you need power from the grid, according to them.