$4M program offers incentives for Maine hospitality businesses to save energy
File photo / Ezra Schreiber-MacQuaid
Small lodgings and eateries will be able to apply for a new state-sponsored energy-efficiency improvement program. Seen here is the Ivy Manor Inn, in Bar Harbor, during a celebration last year of the Kentucky Derby.
A $4 million program has launched this week to help Maine hospitality businesses make energy-efficiency improvements and reduce their energy costs.
The money comes from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan and will be administered by Efficiency Maine, according to a news release.
The program offers incentives for restaurants and lodging establishments to install high-efficiency heat pump systems, employ LED lighting and upgrade refrigeration systems.
“Restaurant and lodging operators consume a large amount of energy for the heating and cooling of their buildings,” Matt Lewis, president and CEO of HospitalityMaine, said in the release. “This assistance to offer more incentives to install heat pumps and modernize heating systems through Efficiency Maine will help reduce costs over time and will be very valuable in this era of rising energy prices.”
Efficiency Maine is an independent administrator of programs in Maine to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, through such incentives and other help.
“As Maine’s lodging and restaurants shift to high-performance heat pump systems for heating and cooling, they will save money on their energy bills while their customers enjoy greater comfort in all seasons,” said Michael Stoddard, executive director of Efficiency Maine.
The initiative is the first of several Efficiency Maine plans to support energy-efficiency upgrades for Maine businesses in travel, tourism and hospitality, which have been hard hit by the pandemic.
In total, Efficiency Maine is receiving $50 million from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan for weatherization and energy efficiency in Maine homes, businesses and local government buildings.
The initial phase prioritizes smaller businesses. To be eligible, lodging businesses — hotels, motels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts — must have fewer than 100 beds, be located in Maine, and cannot be a franchisee or owned by a national chain. Maine restaurants that are franchisees or part of a chain also are ineligible. Rental homes, short-term lodging and seasonal properties do not qualify, but may be eligible for other Efficiency Maine incentives.
Applications are open now and will be available until either May 1, 2023, or the funds are exhausted.
Since 2019, more than 40,000 new high-efficiency heat pumps have been installed across Maine to address the state’s nation-leading dependency on heating oil and reduce harmful carbon emissions. The state’s climate plan, Maine Won’t Wait, has targeted installing 100,000 new heat pumps in Maine by 2025.
The Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan is the governor’s plan, approved by the Legislature, to invest nearly $1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds.
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