Replace Kennebec dams with solar panels
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After taking a walk in Winslow behind the old Scott paper mill, which is proximate to the Brookfield Renewable operated dams, I quickly realized that if solar panels were placed on or above the roofing of these old buildings, this would likely be an efficient, clean and cheap energy source. It is likely that solar panels covering this acreage would generate more energy output than what is currently generated by all four central Maine Kennebec River dams.
Saving these old dams because they were the optimal way to generate electricity 100 years ago for industry and communities along the Kennebec River does not make sense today when there are cheap, clean and efficient alternative energy sources. Nor do saving these old dams make sense when it comes at the expense of making extinct aquatic life including salmon that have spawned in the Kennebec River and its tributaries for thousands and thousands of years.