A nonprofit electric utility serving Vinalhaven and North Haven islands has received a multimillion dollar award to upgrade and expand renewable energy. It’s one of the latest pots of money coming Maine’s way from President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Fox Islands Electric Cooperative was awarded $8.7 million from the federal agriculture department’s Empowering Rural America program.
The money, mostly low-interest loans, is intended to help repower and upgrade a 4.5 megawatt wind farm. It will also go to finance a new solar power array on a capped landfill.
The added renewable energy could power more than 1,500 homes, according to the cooperative.
George Kendrick, president of Fox Islands Wind, said while the organization was excited by federal funding, the projects were not a done deal. Fox Islands Wind is a subsidiary of the cooperative.
Individual components of the plan to repower wind turbines and install a solar array "would be subject to many complex and time-consuming steps" Kendrick said. Those include approval by the Town of Vinalhaven, engineering studies and environmental approvals. The funding will make repowering the turbines more economically feasible, according to Kendrick.
"Most importantly, the entire plan will require approval from FIEC members through a community-wide vote before moving forward," Kendrick added.
The cooperative was founded 50 years ago with assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to serve the two island communities located 11 miles off the Maine coast.
Maine was one of 28 states to receive money in the latest round of the department’s program. So far, it has awarded $14.5 billion in grants, or about 90% of allotted funding.
