Environmental groups laud solar bill support
A bill that would elevate solar power development in Maine was expected to be a priority at a news conference late this morning held at the Senate House Welcome Center by The National Resources Council of Maine and a coalition of 27 other environmental and conservation organizations.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the news conference, scheduled at 11 a.m., would focus on the group’s priorities for this legislative session, and the solar bill was expected to be a priority.
The press conference follows Tuesday’s public meeting in Augusta by the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee to gauge interest in the bill, which would encourage more solar power development in Maine.
Maine is the only state in New England without any specific policies that support solar energy, the newspaper quoted advocates as saying.
“Solar power is taking off around the region, and nationally, it’s going gangbusters,” Dylan Voorhees, clean-energy director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, told the newspaper. “I think there’s a strong interest in looking at that, and what we’re missing.”
Under the legislation, the state would study solar power’s financial value and set goals for certain amounts of generation, according to the newspaper, which said the bill has attracted co-sponsors who include leading Democratic lawmakers and a co-chair of the energy committee. That virtually ensures it will be considered by the full Legislature, the newspaper said.
Two other bills that are moving through the legislative process complement the solar bill. One would revive a recently repealed rebate program for installing certain wind- and solar-energy equipment, the newspaper wrote, while the other, a “feed-in” tariff, would require utilities to buy power from small generators of renewable power at a set rate.
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