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Kennebunk committee weighs proposed increase to community solar cap, plans outreach to legislators
Summary
The Energy Efficiency Sustainability Committee discussed a proposal to raise the community solar farm cap from 100 kilowatts to 5 megawatts, safety concerns about grid islanding, stalled school-district outreach, and plans to draft a letter to state legislators supporting the change.
The Energy Efficiency Sustainability Committee discussed a proposed change to expand community solar farm capacity from 100 kilowatts to 5 megawatts and agreed to pursue outreach to Kennebunk’s legislators following the Jan. 8 meeting.
Tom Schenck, vice chair of the committee, reported that the Community Action Grant application status remains unknown and that he and committee member Wayne Berry plan to meet with Mark Jago about an additional project grant. Schenck said the committee has made several inquiries to RSU 21 but received no reply and discussed engaging student groups as an alternative route to school-district collaboration on solar and related green initiatives.
Maggie Bartenhagen and others described the cap increase as potentially making community solar farms more feasible; Wayne Berry cautioned that any increase would still need approval from KLP and flagged safety concerns about keeping energy out of the grid during outages, which could endanger firefighters and power workers. Committee members said they were awaiting feedback from lobbyists before taking a formal position.
As a next step, Schenck volunteered to draft a letter to Kennebunk’s legislators expressing support for the proposed legislation, and he and Berry will continue grant-related discussions with Mark Jago. The committee did not vote on a formal endorsement during the meeting.
