PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2025
Maine legislators are trying to draft new rules for the disposal of end-of-life solar panels and other components, meeting resistance from some in the solar industry and clean energy advocates in the process. Opponents to Lemelin’s legislation say the solar industry is being singled out for recycling rules that do not apply to fossil fuel industry components such as pipelines, wires and poles, and that claims of toxic solar panels are unfounded and are slowing efforts to build solar farms. Critics also said the 90-day rule is arbitrary and inflexible. Solar power capacity in Maine has climbed 20-fold in five years, to 4,505 projects with a capacity of 1,562 megawatts last year, from 1,058 projects with a capacity of 73 MW in 2019.