MAINE PUBLIC • January 13, 2025
A nonprofit electric utility serving Vinalhaven and North Haven islands has received a multimillion dollar award to upgrade and expand renewable energy. It’s one of the latest pots of money coming Maine’s way from President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Fox Islands Electric Cooperative was awarded $8.7 million from the federal agriculture department’s Empowering Rural America program. The money, mostly low-interest loans, is intended to help repower and upgrade a 4.5 megawatt wind farm. It will also go to finance a new solar power array on a capped landfill. The two island communities located 11 miles off the Maine coast.