The Town of Freeport, ME has another solar array located offsite on property owned by the Good-Will Hinckley that will be offsetting the municipal electric load, and saving taxpayers money. Offsite solar projects work well for towns, businesses, and homeowners who want to use solar to offset their carbon footprint but lack the proper sunny space.
Offsite solar benefits the host, as well. Good Will-Hinckley President and Executive Director Robert Moody shared, "The land was just a hay field, unused since our beginning in 1889. This is a great use of the property versus it sitting there doing nothing. Now it's going to be reducing the carbon footprint in the state."
Under Maine's new solar policy, Good Will-Hinckley was incentivized to host the solar farm on its property by receiving lease payments from the developer, and the Town of Freeport benefits by purchasing clean, renewable solar electricity at a rate lower than what it costs for brown utility power from the grid. Coincidentally, Good Will-Hinckley is also the site of the first solar array to be built in Maine (by ReVision) under the financing mechanism known as a Power Purchase Agreement .
