MAINE MONITOR • January 16, 2022
Farmland, with its open fields, southern exposure and well-drained soils, is typically one of the easiest and cheapest places to put a solar project. But that type of land is also limited in Maine. A lack of regulations around where solar can be sited has resulted in farms being converted to panels at a rapid clip, an analysis by The Maine Monitor found. Developers outcompete farmers for prime land, or offer working farmers attractive sums to take some land out of production. In an effort to help stem the conversion, a report expected out this week from the Governor’s Energy office stakeholder group encourages farmers considering solar on actively farmed land to prioritize dual-use, such as grazing sheep, or growing blueberries under solar panels, to keep as much of that land in production as possible.