Utility concerns delay Passamaquoddy solar project

From behind the wheel of a pickup truck, Trevor White points out several landmarks in Indian Township, one of two Passamaquoddy reservations in Washington County. More than 700 people live here, perched on a chain of lakes near the Canadian border.

He passes rows of identical single story brick and modular homes built in blocks over the years. Some are in better shape than others.

"Putting solar panels on a lot of these homes is going to be relatively simple, because of a lot of them are exact copies of each other," White said. He's a transplant from East London and has worked as an environmental officer in Indian Township for decades.

White's referring to the community's $7.4 million federal award to install solar panels on more than 200 homes and two tribal offices, nearly every building in the community.

The project includes individual backup batteries to help keep the lights on during power outages which are becoming more frequent as a warming climate drives intense storms. The development can help the town limit reliance on expensive imported fuels, lower electric bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"I wanted to really see the tribe get into a situation where they're becoming more independent, because it's really important for the tribe to act as a sovereign nation, and this is all part of that," White said.

The project is expected to save the community more than $7 million over the next 25 years.

But the proposal is facing resistance from Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, it's local power utility.

The utility suggests the solar project may violate Maine's rules for renewable energy developments. And it asked the township government to get an advisory ruling from the Maine Public Utilities Commission that the plan complies with state law.

The dispute reflects larger debates over the transition to renewable energy and tribal sovereignty in Maine.

"We're not trying to be a roadblock," said Eastern Maine Electric CEO Scott Hallowell. "As a utility we can't violate the rules that our regulators tell us we have to follow."

In the utility’s eyes, the individual rooftop arrays in Indian Township would effectively become parts of a single power plant capable of producing 1.9 megawatts.

That’s almost twenty times the 100 kilowatts allowed for a single "discrete generating facility" under Maine’s net energy billing rules for areas served by consumer-owned utilities like Eastern Maine Electric.

Under net energy billing, electric customers can receive credits for excess energy they produce from renewables, such as rooftop solar panels or a shared community solar farm. They can use those credits to offset their electric bill when their personal systems aren't making power or they need more than they can produce.

But it also means that those customers aren't paying as much for system upkeep, Hallowell said. That shifts costs to other users, he added. Eastern Maine Electric has about 13,200 accounts.

Hallowell said the company doesn't opposed solar, or energy storage, or public funding for renewable energy. The utility's concerns about the inequities of net energy billing aren't new or specific to the Indian Township proposal, he added.

"I think it's really a duty as a utility to look out for our consumers and protect all of our consumers from potentially any unnecessary cost and rate increases," Hallowell said.

Net energy billing has been a flashpoint as the state deals with soaring electric bills. Republican legislators and the blamed rising prices on subsidies included in the program to encourage community solar developments, while the Maine Public Advocate has warned of spiraling future costs to pay for the developments. Lawmakers significantly narrowed the program for community solar projects in 2023 even though renewable energy advocates argue high bills are largely driven by fossil fuel prices, storm recovery costs and other factors.

The Passamaquoddy reject the idea that their solar plan amounts to a single large generator. In a petition for an advisory ruling, they said the project is exactly the kind of development allowed under the state’s original rules for rooftop solar arrays owned by homeowners.

Even though the individual arrays share funding and an installation company, each will be privately owned and none exceed the 100 kilowatt limit on single generators, according to their filing.

Eastern Maine Electric is trying to misapply regulations designed to prevent big solar companies from gaming the net energy billing system by developing supposedly independent solar arrays next to one another, the Passamaquoddy said.

Sitting in his Indian Township office, Chief William Nicholas said he isn't surprised by pushback from the utility.

"Anytime the tribe does something, whether it is across the state, or whether it is any of the Wabanaki tribes, or whether it is within the counties we live in there isn’t always a lot of support," he said.

The dispute comes as tribal nations in Maine seek to restore self-governing powers that were extinguished by a 1980 land claims settlement.

Nicholas said The Passamaquoddy shouldn’t be hindered from installing the same kind of solar energy that’s benefiting communities in the rest of Maine. If his government can't get the project approved, it might have to return the federal grant. The tribe isn't certain whether its plans will be affected by the Trump administration's freeze on federal funding.

"We know that there's the there may be some, bumps in the road, but we believe, as a sovereign nation that the Passamaquoddy here at Indian township reservation have that right to be able to make that decision on our reservation," Nicholas said.

"I believe we can work with Eastern Maine electric, and I think we'll all be back at the table at some point," Nicholas added. "And if not, that's what we have attorneys for."