Maine
Opinion: Renewable energy has a growing positive impact on Maine’s economy and environment
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Phil Coupe is a co-founder of ReVision Energy.
Recent concerns about rising utility bills overlook and misconstrue the proven benefits solar policies deliver to Maine’s economy and environment. Multiple independent studies of Maine’s solar net metering policy have found that the benefits of solar to ratepayers significantly outweigh the costs, while increasing the Dirigo State’s energy independence and resilience.
Maine’s renewable energy industry contributed more than $2.3 billion, or almost 3 percent, of Maine’s total gross state product in 2022. With more than 15,000 workers statewide, our clean energy industry is a significant job creator, and we have the fastest-growing clean energy economy — as measured by new job creation — of any New England state.
It’s important to note that Mainers export $4 billion per year from the local economy to import expensive, finite, single-use fossil fuels from away. Every time we invest in a locally built renewable energy project, we keep our energy dollars in the Maine economy, creating long-term energy independence and resilience to the negative impacts of a rapidly changing climate and worsening storms.
As a Maine-based company, ReVision Energy has firsthand experience with how solar energy positively impacts our economy and local communities. Since its start in Liberty in 2003, ReVision has grown into a 100 percent employee-owned solar company with nearly 300 Maine co-owners providing clean energy solutions to local homeowners, schools, municipalities, and businesses. These jobs not only include installers of solar arrays, heat pumps, battery storage and electric vehicle charging stations, but also engineers, project developers, and roles in service, IT, finance, marketing and sales.
The renewable energy sector’s growth throughout the state has also created work for Maine-based subcontractors, electricians, and equipment suppliers from Kittery to Caribou. We hear a lot about the solar industry being entirely out of state, but the truth is that many of us live, work, play, raise families and add to the economy right here; we are your neighbors.
Our state’s investment in solar energy not only helps ensure that our children and our grandchildren can enjoy the same clean air and water that we value today, but it also saves money immediately and over time by allowing homeowners and businesses to lock in predictable energy costs. There is no question that some Maine businesses are facing rising energy bills due to multiple factors including complex national and global fossil fuel market forces. The responsible approach should be to seek collaborative solutions rather than pointing fingers at solar energy. ReVision and our colleagues in the renewable energy industry, like the Maine Renewable Energy Association, are doing that work before the Maine Public Utilities Commission right now.
Twice now the PUC has commissioned studies on the costs and benefits of solar to Mainers and both studies clearly show that the benefits of solar, including reduced energy costs, outweigh the costs.
Maine’s rising electric bills are not caused by clean energy. To the contrary, solar, wind and hydro power act as a reprieve to the rising cost of fossil fuel energy, while delivering significant economic stimulus to Maine and protecting the environment. Energy storage solutions are also poised to positively impact our local economy with the announcement that the largest battery in the world will be built at the former location of a paper mill in Lincoln.
Let’s not risk the progress we’ve made by singling out a critical sector that provides good-paying jobs and long-term savings for Maine families and businesses. Instead, we should work together to ensure that energy policies remain equitable and effective for all Mainers. By protecting and improving solar energy programs, we ensure a more prosperous and sustainable future for our state.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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