UPDATE: Gov LePage's anti-solar bill, LD1400, was soundly rejected by the Energy Committee and is officially DEAD - at least for now. A heavily revised version of LD1263 was enacted, and survived a veto by Gov LePage.
On Thursday, April 16th, solar supporters gathered in Augusta to speak up for LD1263
Maine's 127th legislature is faced with big decisions with long term ramifications - embrace a solar future, or take backwards-looking policies that leave Maine trailing the rest of the world in solar adoption?
A snapshot of the bills in the pipeline:
On a related note, on the national front, Maine's Independent Senator Angus King has proposed bold new legislation to support distribution generation that embraces free market principles. What's fascinating about solar energy policy, is that it draws together environmentalists and fiscal conservatives alike. Said Debbie Dooley, Founder of the Green Tea Coalition, "This is something true free-market conservatives should support."
The legislative hearing illustrated the clash of two visions of Maine's energy future: the solar vision of a less centralized, more locally owned and operated, smarter, cleaner grid. Maine would generate more of its electricity in Maine and utilities would transition from having monopoly control of the power grid, to service providers who would have to compete in order to please and retain customers.
The alternate vision: more of the status quo. Keep the central grid and all of its inefficiencies, and rather than enacting public policy that facilitates ratepayers owning and generating their own power, force them to pay (through PUC-sanctioned rate increases ) for centralized infrastructure, built by out of state companies, for the profit of major corporations. This vision would have Maine ratepayers "invest" in infrastructure that chains Maine to the volatile world energy market price of natural gas.
Fossil energy apologists continue to paint solar as unaffordable and a product for the elite, and claim that net metering policy (receiving a 1:1 energy credit for kilowatt-hours sold to the utility) is a burden on the poor. This stale argument continues despite a mountain of evidence that points out the contrary, such as Maine's own Value of Solar study which was conducted by the relatively solar unfriendly Maine PUC using a neutral third-party consultant (who employed an exhaustive, defensible process for making their claims that solar provides a 33cents per kilowatt-hour levelized cost of electricity to the grid).
The irony of the message of the utilities/fossil energy supporters is that they are not a ctually proposing that Maine ratepayers avoid making significant investments. In fact, they are rushing full-steam ahead to get PUC-approval on extremely expensive infrastructure such as a $750million+ natural gas pipeline. In contrast, the cost (once the economic benefits are factored in) of LD 1263, over 20 years, is less that $15/million/year (source: Cost analysis by OPA and NRCM).
So, an apparent contradiction: policy support for solar is a "subsidy," and policy support for natural gas is an "investment." The reality is that the policies proposed by Gov. LePage and his supporters would result in less local control, and higher energy costs, not the lowering of such costs.
In our view, the only way to truly reduce long-term energy costs is through widespread and rapid adoption of renewable energy. Fossil fuel scarcity is a reality and costs will increase, as we explained in our piece the " Myth of Cheap Natural Gas ." Decentralized, smarter, distributed energy is the future of energy and, frankly, considering the environmental situation, the only path that leaves us an inhabitable planet. Energy policy should be geared towards accelerating the transition to renewable energy in as non-disruptive a way as possible, not clinging towards 1950s ideas of a centralized energy grid designed to prop up an inherently outdated business model.
It's possible to do this. The technology exists and is affordable today. Hawaii just announced policies that would get the islands 100% renewable by 2045 .
If you would like to see better solar policy in Maine, now is the time to write letters to the editor to your local papers, and call or email your state legislators. Politically, solar faces strong headwinds in the Maine legislature and Governor's office, however, some of solar's key opponents are softening their stance as they learn more about the technology's benefits and potential to both create jobs in the state of Maine and improve our energy security/independence.
Find your Maine representative at: http://legislature.maine.gov/house/townlist.htm and State Senator at: http://legisweb1.mainelegislature.org/wp/senate/find-your-senator/ . A list of contacts for state and weekly papers is here .
There has been excellent media coverage of solar's growth in Maine recently, see:
Why should Maine encourage solar policy?
