BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 18, 2025
Community solar farms have multiplied across Maine since 2019, with support from the state government. They particularly flourished in 2024, when a record-breaking amount of solar capacity came online. The state’s solar capacity is projected to more than double in the next five years. At the same time, towns such as Trenton are frightened by larger projects and continue to resist them, in some cases with increasing hostility, putting in moratoriums and ordinances to limit developments. That resistance has more recently caused companies to give up trying to work in the state. The pushback could challenge Maine as it tries to reach a goal of using 100 percent renewable energy by 2040. Still, some towns have welcomed the solar arrays. Maine had the second-highest volume of community solar installations in the nation last year and broke its own record for installation.