Corinth becomes latest Maine town to consider solar development restrictions

EXCERPTS:

3/9/23

Corinth voters will decide whether the town should adopt a solar development moratorium and allow a medical cannabis store to open on Main Street during the annual town meeting later this month.

The temporary ban of commercial solar developments is designed to give the town 180 days — roughly 6 months — to draft rules and regulations for future commercial solar developments to protect residents’ quality of life and health and safety, according to the proposed ordinance.

The town drafted the proposed ordinance after Corinth saw “increased development pressure from commercial solar facilities” and residents expressed concerns regarding how future solar farms could impact adjacent property values, the environment and the aesthetics of the town, the ordinance reads.

Should Corinth halt solar projects, it’ll join other Maine communities, including Glenburn and Dixmont, that have instituted bans or restrictions on solar developments. Some towns have shown a hesitancy to use up available land that could support housing or agriculture, while others worry about how large solar farms would be decommissioned and disposed of appropriately in the future.

Maine has more than 620 solar projects statewide, which collectively generate just more than 7 percent of the state’s electricity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The number of solar projects has increased in recent years after Gov. Janet Mills expanded the state’s net energy billing program and created incentives for solar projects in 2019.

The Corinth planning board has already approved three solar developments that connect to the Versant power grid in late 2020 and early 2021, according to Corinth Town Manager Stephen Fields.......................................

................Glenburn residents voted last March to ban solar panel projects larger than 15,000 square feet. The rule doesn’t apply to small-scale solar installations on private or on small businesses’ property, such as roof-mounted arrays or ground projects smaller than 15,000 square feet.

In October 2021, Dixmont temporarily halted solar projects while the town crafted rules requiring developers to reserve funding to cover the costs of decommissioning solar panels when they reached the end of their lifespan.

Ellsworth and Augusta have also put holds on solar panel construction, citing concerns about overdevelopment and aesthetics..................................

...................The town meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. in the Central Middle School cafeteria. The official warrant for the annual meeting will be available for review in the coming days, Fields said. Voting on Corinth’s municipal election will be held Monday, March 20 in the town office conference room from 1 to 8 p.m.

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/03/10/news/penobscot/corinth-s...

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Comment by Willem Post on March 11, 2023 at 8:18am

Maine has fallen behind regarding installing solar, per ISO-NE, so Maine government will provide high feed in tariffs to attract in vectors to build, because the costs of solar systems has gone up quite a lot.

All that means extra money will come out of the pockets of already struggling Mainers, who are screwed again and again.

But it is your own fault, because you either voted the a holes in or they cheated their way in

 

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CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

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Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

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(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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