The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is conducting an investigation into whether a rooftop solar project by the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township qualifies for the state's net energy billing program. The PUC held an initial case conference on the matter on March 11, with 17 intervenors in the case, from solar energy companies and the utilities Versant Power and Central Maine Power to conservation organizations and the Wabanaki Alliance.
      In December, the tribe submitted a request to the PUC for a ruling concerning the project, which would allow for the construction of 206 individual, mostly residential, rooftop solar units at Indian Township. The project would be funded through a $7.4 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. The tribe is seeking an opinion from the PUC whether the proposed rooftop solar units are eligible to participate in net energy billing as discrete electric generating facilities, even though they are federally funded as one project.
      However, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative (EMEC), the utility that serves Indian Township, believes that the project is a single discrete electric generation facility that exceeds the 100-kilowatt cap for net energy billing projects in its service area. EMEC maintains that the individual units, when combined, would be able to generate 1.9 megawatts of electricity, or nearly 20 times the 100-kilowatt cap under net energy billing rules. Customers who use net energy billing are not paying as much for maintenance of the electric distribution system, which shifts costs onto other users, EMEC notes.
      Net energy billing was developed in Maine to encourage the use of small-scale renewable technologies designed primarily to serve the customer's own electricity needs. It allows electric customers to receive credits for excess energy they produce from renewable sources, including shared community solar farms or rooftop solar panels. Customers can then use those credits to offset their electric bill when their personal systems are not producing power or need more than they can generate.
      The net energy billing program has been criticized by legislators who blame rising electricity prices on subsidies included in the program, and the Maine public advocate has warned about even higher future costs to pay for the program and pointed out that savings subscribers of solar farms take advantage of are partly paid for by all other utility customers. In 2023 the legislature reduced the scope of the program to community solar projects.
      The tribe's attorney, Adam Cote of Drummond Woodsum, argues that the PUC's definition of a discrete electric generating facility does not apply to small rooftop solar projects that merely share common grant funding; or, alternatively, that the solar units are individual discrete electric generating facilities. The tribe notes that, even though the solar units share funding, each will be privately owned, with none exceeding the 100-kilowatt cap.
      Among those supporting the tribe's position is the Sierra Club of Maine, which would like to see net energy billing used as widely as possible, as it seeks an expansion of solar generation to replace fossil fuels as an energy source. In a filing, Matt Cannon of the Sierra Club states that while the installations are all made possible from one funding source, for purposes of net energy billing each owner will be acting independently, paying their electrical bill and being subject to all regulations affecting individual customers of the utility. "Therefore, this should not be considered to be one project by aggregating all roof installations," he states.
      The PUC will issue an advisory ruling or opinion following the investigation.