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Energy News Network: Solar developers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts say soaring charges to interconnect with the electric grid are threatening the viability of projects. As more large-scale solar projects line up for connections, developers are being charged upfront for the full cost of the infrastructure upgrades required, a long-common practice that they say is now becoming untenable.
“It is a huge issue that reflects an under-invested grid that is not ready for the volume of distributed generation that we’re seeing and that we need, particularly solar,” said Jeremy McDiarmid, vice president for policy and government affairs at the Northeast Clean Energy Council, a nonprofit business organization.
Central Maine Power’s most recent debacle, attempting to charge solar developers millions more for grid interconnections despite signed contracts, was shocking but not surprising from a utility that has sought for decades to undermine renewable power.
Only after public outcry and a call from Gov. Janet Mills for a Maine Public Utilities Commission investigation did CMP reverse course, sending the PUC a mea culpa letter with what energy consultant and former Maine State Planning Office director Richard Silkman called a “very telling juxtaposition.”
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor.
The Maine Monitor, formerly known as Pine Tree Watch, is a local journalism product published by The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic news organization based in Augusta.
Central Maine Power’s most recent debacle, attempting to charge solar developers millions more for grid interconnections despite signed contracts, was shocking but not surprising from a utility that has sought for decades to undermine renewable power.
Only after public outcry and a call from Gov. Janet Mills for a Maine Public Utilities Commission investigation did CMP reverse course, sending the PUC a mea culpa letter with what energy consultant and former Maine State Planning Office director Richard Silkman called a “very telling juxtaposition.”
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor.
The Maine Monitor, formerly known as Pine Tree Watch, is a local journalism product published by The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic news organization based in Augusta.