Fort Kent Reaches 100 Percent Solar Energy Milestone - WAGM
Fort Kent Reaches 100 Percent Solar Energy Milestone
FORT KENT, Maine (WAGM) - Aroostook County is helping The State of Maine get one step closer to achieving its goal of 80 percent renewable energy use by 2030.
From May 1st to May 3rd, Versant Power claims the Fort Kent area was powered entirely by locally produced solar energy, even generating more electricity than was needed during the middle of the day. This milestone marks a significant achievement in the transition to renewable energy. Judy Long, Senior Communications Manager for Versant Power highlighted the complexity and innovation involved in reaching this point.
“That takes a lot of technological expertise, it takes a good deal of planning, and that’s something that has not frankly been done before in many areas of the country, and in fact the world. In northern Maine, we’ve made a really, really good start and we know that there will be more, but it’s not as simple as plug and play. Solar energy takes technical expertise and planning to integrate into the grid. So having the Fort Kent area, more than 11,000 customers, powered solely by solar energy during any period of time is a remarkable achievement here in Maine.”
These efforts are part of a broader push to support renewable energy integration across the state, with an ultimate goal of using 100% renewables by 2050 state wide. Since 2020, the company has worked with developers to connect more than 140 megawatts of solar energy to the grid, processing over 1,780 applications for renewable energy projects.
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: solar
Declining costs and government encouragement have resulted in a rapid increase in solar energy production in the United States over the past 10 years, although solar’s share remains small: 1.6 percent of all electricity generation in 2018. That rapid growth is projected to continue.