Those who have been watching alternative energy developments know that two primary types of alternative energy systems are under construction around our state at this very time. These are wind and solar power projects. Little interest has been shown for tidal or water power generation or alternatives to burning petroleum products to generate power.
Mid-Maine Progressive Forum has been involved in discussions with Waterville city officials proposing solar panels be located on all the city buildings around town. The city seemed to have also considered and abandoned that.
Colby College in Waterville, ME, is currently constructing a 1.8 megawatt solar installation that will open for operations in the fall and Thomas College has installed 700 solar panel on a building rooftop.
Solar panels are showing up on the rooftops of homes around the city. But no large wind power projects have appeared here in Kennebec County.
The Governor has worked against both solar and wind projects consistently, and has failed to stem the surge in efforts to build alternate energy sources.
What you may not know is that there are some big money actors in the game in Maine that would use our landscape and open spaces to build large systems, both wind power and solar, but not always for the people in Maine.
One system that impacts us here in central Maine is a plan to build a solar farm on top of the Waterville landfill..
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“Garvan Donegan, an economic development specialist for the Central Maine Growth Council, a public-private collaborative group based in Waterville, said a lot of due diligence needs to be done, but the city is confident and pleased to enter into a partnership with a Falmouth-based energy company to develop a large-scale solar project on the city’s capped landfill on Webb Road. He said a 20-megawatt project on the landfill would likely be the largest such project on a closed landfill in the state, big enough to power 3,750 homes, and would cost the developer between $25 million and $30 million. The partnership also includes a smaller project on a different part of Webb Road also owned by the city.” (By Colin Ellis Staff Writer cellis@centralmaine.com) Central Maine BUSINESS Posted August 7 Updated August 8
Fact: There are 3,274 "family led" homes in Waterville.
Sounds great at first, but the twist in the proposal is that the energy likely will all be shipped to Connecticut and/or other New England states with none provided for the City of Waterville. It appears all Waterville will get out of the deal is property tax and lease payments on the land fill acreage.
The Waterville landfill space could be occupied with solar panels for many years. Should the city retain that open space to build a future solar farm that would directly benefit homeowners in the city and not tie it up to provide power generation for other states? Should the City secure rights to a percent of the power generated to help reduce the cost of energy for Waterville home owners? Will the property tax and lease payment income just be absorbed in the city budget and not directly help reduce property tax for home owners in Waterville?