GREEN – City residents will again be asked to decide whether to accept a large solar panel project that planners say would bring money and jobs to the city.

Swift Current Energy’s so-called Greene Apple Solar Project would spend about $200 million to build solar arrays on 600 acres that would connect to Central Maine Power’s grid system, with the potential to power the equivalent of 30,500 Maine households annually.

Fast currentin its project filing, it lists the benefits the city would get if voters ultimately approve the plan. To begin with, the Greene Apple Project would result in payments totaling millions of dollars in new revenue to the city over the 20-30 year life of the project.

On Nov. 18, Greene voters will be asked to consider an amendment to the city’s existing solar ordinance that would limit the size of any solar systems in the city to 15 acres and impose other restrictions on the size and location of solar panels. .

The Greene Planning Board initiated the proposed change in response to strong opposition to the latest plan among residents.

For Swift Current, the success of that amendment would be a deal breaker.

“If the proposal to amend the solar ordinance is adopted, the Greene Apple Solar project will not be built,” according to project documentation, “and the city and residents will lose the substantial benefits described above.”

Project planners expect to pay more than $2 million to the city in the first year of operations and about $1 million each year thereafter. The city’s current fiscal budget is about $2 million.

Planners say the solar array would provide the city with “a significant influx of new revenue that the city can put into its general fund without requiring new municipal services.”

Swift Current, Massachusetts-based also expects the plan to generate 150 full-time jobs during construction and three to five full-time jobs once the project is up and running. The project would also provide improvements to several roads in the city, including Coburn Road and two private roads, North Hills Ridge and North Ridge Road.

A community benefit fund would bring an additional $150,000 annually to the city, according to project documents.

In addition, planners say “the project will deliver clean, peak renewable energy to Maine at a cost-effective and reliable price, enabling Maine to reduce its carbon emissions.”

The solar panel will be located on private property; large parcels owned by George Schott and Vista in Maine. The project would cover more than 600 acres along the CMP corridor from North Hills Ridge Road near Vista in Maine, across Sawyer Road near the horse stables, along Bull Run Road to the property across the Dead River.

The plan proposed this time is slightly different from the one city residents overwhelmingly rejected in 2022. That project, also from Swift Current, called for a solar array on city property.

Greene, and many other Maine towns of its size, have historically rejected plans for large-scale solar arrays.

“They don’t like the look of these endless fields of solar panels,” said Brent Armstrong, Greene code enforcement officer. “This is going to be a huge project and I think it worked against Swift Current in a way. People have had time to understand how big this is.”

“Everybody in town who opposes the plan is very aware of what they don’t like about it,” Armstrong said. “I hope what they will at least consider is that this would be a huge source of revenue for the city without requiring resources.”

How the people of Greene will vote is anyone’s guess.

In 2022, residents voted against a measure which would have authorized the city to enter into an associated lease and easement agreement with Greene Apple Solar Power, a subsidiary of Swift Current Energy.

During that vote, residents were largely against leasing the land to Greene Apple Solar Power because they wanted the land to be developed for recreational fields, as city officials suggested when the land was purchased several years ago.

Whether voters are swayed by the fact that the currently proposed arrays would be on private land remains to be seen.

The darker shaded areas in the larger image show where the solar panels would be located in the proposed project. The inset map, top left, shows the location of the parcels of land where the solar panels would be located.