Embrace solar for our economy and a cleaner environment

By Rep. Deane Rykerson

When it comes to solar, the future is here. There’s so much opportunity for Maine, but we’re missing out because of opposition from Gov. Paul LePage and his die-hard allies. We’re missing out on jobs, on energy savings for families and businesses and on a cleaner environment.

In 1963, my solar energy project won first place in my eighth-grade science fair. Then there was no economical way then to convert the free and abundant power of sunlight into electricity. Solar cells were for satellites or experiments. Their availability for everyday people and businesses seemed far away.

For Maine’s sake, Gov. LePage has got to understand that it’s now 2016, not 1963 anymore. Solar technology has advanced and prices are way down. Maine should be installing more solar and creating jobs. But without a comprehensive policy, we’re not going to be able to seize the opportunities or even catch up to the rest of the country, not even with neighbors like New Hampshire and Vermont.

This year, the governor and enough of his House Republican friends killed the bipartisan solar plan that was crafted through the hard work of a broad stakeholders group and the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, on which I serve. It was an impressive measure that won the support of Maine’s solar industry, electric utilities, environmentalists, municipal leaders and the state public advocate. I would like to point out that the mission of the public advocate, who is a LePage appointee, is to look out for the interests of all Maine ratepayers.

But instead of embracing this plan to finally bring Maine’s policies into the 21st century, the governor vetoed it. With the help of House Republican leadership, he succeeded in getting enough House Republicans to sustain the veto.

They threw away over 600 new jobs and put our 300 existing homegrown solar jobs at risk. They threw away between $58 million and $110 million in savings for ratepayers. They threw away energy savings for Maine families and businesses, including farms.

The governor keeps talking about energy policies that simply aren’t real solutions.

There’s hydropower from Quebec for one. The thing he leaves out is that Quebec is never going to sell us power at the subsidized Canadian rate. It’s in their law. And you can’t get that power from there to here without building new transmission lines. Vermont has learned that Canadian hydro is not a money saver. They’re buying power from Quebec and they have consistently higher electric rates than Maine.

Meanwhile, a report by the Maine Public Utilities Commission last year found that the value of solar generation in Maine is more than two-and-half times the retail rate of electricity – and that’s not even including the jobs created.

Solar generation is free after the initial investment. It saves us from paying for transmission power loss or building new dirty generation and power lines. It reduces pollutants and the health costs associated with them.

And we keep our money in the state.

As a frugal Yankee, I don’t want to pay overseas conglomerates to burn oil and gas for my electricity when I can make it freely and cleanly on my garage roof, all while supporting Maine workers.

On these hot summer days, I think about all the money I’m saving. This is when the grid has the most demand and electricity is the most expensive. During times of peak demand, it can be more than five times the usual price.

When is solar the cheapest and most effective? On hot summer days like these. It isn’t just the folks with solar panels on their roofs that benefit. It’s saving money for everyone using electrical power as the excess of that cheap, efficiently produced power flows to the grid.

It’s time to embrace solar and all it can do for Maine. It is the way forward.

Rep. Deane Rykerson, D-Kittery, is a second-term lawmaker who serves on the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee.