The Maine Public Utilities Commission said it will settle a dispute over a major rooftop solar development planned by the Passamaquoddy Tribe.
Late last year, the Indian Township government asked the commission to confirm that it was not violating state rules by installing solar panels on more than 200 homes and buildings in the Washington County community.
The project, which included individual battery backup systems, was funded with a $7.4 million federal grant.
However, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, the utility that serves the area, said it was concerned that the individual rooftop systems combined were a single discrete electric generator. And the entire system together would produce about 20 times more power than allowed under the state’s rules for solar arrays qualified to receive benefits through the net energy billing program.
Indian Township asked the commission for an advisory ruling that the individual rooftop units were acceptable under state regulations.
But on Tuesday commissioners instead voted to start a formal investigation into the matter.
Chair Phil Bartlett said the issue raises important policy implications that are best weighed through the agency’s legal process.
“That allows us to gather information, put evidence on the record and then issue a binding determination so the parties will be clear on what our ruling is,” Bartlett said.
A lengthy investigation will delay the Passamaquoddy project. But its future is already uncertain after the Environmental Protection Agency grant disappeared shortly after the Trump administration took office.
Tribal attorney Adam Cote with the firm Drummond Woodsum expects funding to get reinstated but says it’s important to clear up legal disagreements in the meantime.
“If and when it does clear up with the EPA grant funding, we will be on an accelerated development schedule to move forward and we will need to have this issue cleared in front of the Public Utilities Commission,” Cote said.
The commission is expected to begin proceedings on the case early next month.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
