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By Canary Media
By Canary Media
Canary Media
For years, community solar in Maine grew at a breakneck pace, elevating the state to the top of the list for most capacity per capita in the U.S. Now, however, development has slowed to a standstill, and the industry faces an uncertain future.
“What we saw was a very swift rise, and it has now come to an end,” said Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association. “Right now, there is no opportunity for growth.”
Community solar — larger arrays that sell power to multiple users — took off in Maine after the state expanded the program supporting it in 2019. By the end of 2025, Maine had 694 watts of community solar capacity per person, far and away the most of any state in the country (second-place Minnesota had 164 watts per capita), according to a recently released report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Then, last year, lawmakers passed, and the governor signed, a law that brought that momentum to a screeching halt. The legislation includes two major stumbling blocks for the future success of community solar in the state, whose legislature and governor’s office are controlled by Democrats
First, it prohibits any larger new projects — residential solar is still OK — from enrolling in net energy billing, the system that allows solar producers to get paid for the energy they send to the grid. It is the backbone of community solar’s financial model.
Second, the law imposes hefty new fees on community solar installations that are already up and running. It’s a move that creates financial hardship for existing projects and makes developers exceedingly wary about doing business in Maine, said Jessica Robertson, director of policy and business development for New England at renewable energy company New Leaf Energy.
“That’s just incredibly damaging,” she said. “If you can have an operating project that was built in good faith under the existing laws and policies, and you can have the rug pulled out from you later, it’s impossible to have confidence.”
At a moment when energy affordability is a top priority for consumers and elected officials, many states are looking for ways to create immediate savings for struggling residents. Renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs are finding themselves on the chopping block even in left-leaning states that have traditionally supported such efforts.
Community solar has long been seen as a way to save participants money and allow environmentally conscious residents to buy clean energy without having solar on their own property. However, as such programs have become more common, there has been a rising chorus of complaints that net energy billing — often called net metering in other states — increases costs for consumers at large, who have to absorb the expense of expanding and maintaining the grid. In Maine, for example, net energy billing added roughly $7 to the average customer’s monthly bill in 2024, according to the state’s major utilities.
Net metering battles have also erupted in California, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and other states. In Maine, during debate on the 2025 bill, one state lawmaker called net energy billing a “job-stealing solar energy tax,” while another branded it “a nefarious scheme.”
The result is a law that environmental advocates and solar industry representatives say goes too far in an attempt to save a few dollars. The abrupt end to net energy billing for community solar left pending projects in the lurch. For some, it became too expensive to wait for new rules, especially given the looming end of the federal tax credits.
“We were waiting around. Now, we’ve canceled all those projects,” Robertson said. “And we’re not the only ones. I highly doubt anyone has been able to hold on.”
The law calls for the creation of a successor program to support the development of distributed energy resources, most notably solar and storage. The state’s Department of Energy Resources has started the process and expects to launch opportunities for stakeholder feedback in the coming months, said acting Commissioner Celina Cunningham.
Developers, however, are not optimistic that the upcoming program will undo the changes made by the new law.
“I am not super hopeful about community solar,” said Lindsay Bourgoine, director of policy and government affairs at ReVision Energy. “That was a pretty strong signal from the legislature to close that market.”
Provisions encouraging development of storage could be a bright spot, said some in the industry. Maine has more than 1.9 gigawatts of solar capacity today, up from less than 100 megawatts in 2019. An incentive program encouraging the construction of batteries to store some of the power produced could create significant market opportunities for developers unable or unwilling to pursue stand-alone solar projects in the state.
“We will see what that says,” said Kate Daniel, northeast regional director for the trade association Coalition for Community Solar Access. “But I do know that at least our members are not very likely to pursue new development in Maine, mostly because they view it as a very risky business climate.”
Sarah Shemkus is a reporter at Canary Media who is based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and covers New England.
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