LIMESTONE, Maine — The Power Company of Washington, Maine and the Loring Development Authority of Limestone are jointly announcing the beginning of construction of a 200 kW solar energy project at the former Loring Air Force Base. The project, named “Loring Solar II” is the second solar–powered electrical generation system to be installed for the LDA by the firm and is expected to be completed late this summer.
The Power Company is an energy developer specializing in concept, consulting, design and building of community based renewable energy projects.
LDA was created to redevelop the former Loring Air Force base after its closure in 1994. Carl Flora, CEO of LDA, stated “this project is a good example of the type of economic opportunity we offer here at Loring. We have abundant sunshine, thousands of acres of property, hundreds of buildings and a lot of grid capacity. Loring has become an incubator for advanced energy research and development.” Under the terms of a special lease agreement, LDA will act as host and off-taker of the electricity. In exchange, LDA leases the equipment and realizes a net saving in electric costs.
“In our case, the benefits are financial. Our cost for electricity we obtain from the solar project is less than what we would have to pay otherwise,” said Flora. “We have to devote a fair amount of land in support of the installations, but we have plenty of land.”
An earlier project, dubbed “Loring Solar I” was completed in the fall of 2012. It is a 50 kW fixed ground-mount system consisting of 216 U.S.-made solar modules. In contrast, Loring Solar II will consist of 30 dual-axis tracking devices. According to Flora, there is a major difference in the different types of solar systems — especially in regard to the efficiency of the new solar-powered system.
“The solar trackers follow the movement of the sun daily and seasonally. The direct fixation of the panels on the sunlight increases the efficiency by as much as 40 percent. ‘Loring Solar I’ is a system with fixed solar panels, and because they don’t move from their fixed angle, it’s not always at the ideal angle all the time. ‘Loring Solar II,’ however, will include 30 pole-mounted panels that will adjust to the ideal angle, even during the winter months,” Flora said.
According to Loring officials, each tracker holds 24 US-made modules. The two projects will have a combined annual production of approximately 385 mWh per year or enough electricity to power 55 average Maine homes. The solar-powered systems will also off-set carbon production by 250 tons annually. “The power is fed into a transformer that goes into the general grid at Loring,” said Flora. “It’s difficult to say exactly what the generators will be powering, but it will be more than just the LDA building. The amount of energy is measured and applied against our consumption.”
The project will be installed by Maine Energy Performance Solutions and owned and operated by Loring Solar II LLC. Financing will be provided by Coastal Enterprises Incorporated of Wiscasset.
“Solar development of this sort is now just beginning to happen in Maine. It takes a willingness of all parties to think outside the box a bit to make things happen,” stated Rich Simon, president of The Power Company.
When asked where the inspiration comes from to undertake such a major project, Flora said the ultimate goal was financial savings, but any other benefits that may come with the new system are surely welcome.
“Our motivation was to realize the financial savings,” said Flora. “The project does showcase an alternative energy system, so we are happy if it can serve as a demonstration model and have some educational value.”
Other partners in the project include John Lajoie, County Electric, Maine Solar Engineering, All Earth Renewables and Emera Maine.
