Stakeholders in the state’s solar power sector are uniting behind a proposal to temporarily bar new “community solar” projects from getting in line for ratepayer-sponsored credits that are provided under the so-called “net energy billing” program.
State Rep. Seth Berry, co-chair of the Legislature’s utilities committee, is proposing the temporary moratorium to last through June. That’s to give lawmakers and regulators time to absorb the lessons of a solar development boom that followed 2019 legislation that created an array of new incentives.
“Here’s the good news. We threw the door wide open to solar two years ago and since then Maine has seen hundreds of new jobs created at a time when we desperately needed those jobs,” he says.
But last year, state regulators reported that if all the proposed midsize solar power projects were brought online, the incentives could add tens of millions of dollars a year to electricity bills in Maine. Solar advocates condemned the report as flawed, and commissioned their own reports highlighting the benefits solar power brings to Maine, from jobs and grid security to combating climate change.
Berry’s moratorium would exempt smaller-scale, residential rooftop arrays, and would grandfather larger projects that applied for the solar credits before January. At Tuesday’s hearing, advocates and opponents of the incentives supported the moratorium to allow for further study.
The committee could vote out the bill by next month. But that will only postpone a new phase of the battle over renewable energy and how it should be paid for.