Livermore Falls solar project to power five public schools

Courtesy / ReVision Energy A 14,040-panel solar array at Souther Farms in Livermore Falls will provide 96% of its energy to five public schools in the surrounding area.

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By Laurie Schreiber

A $15.2 million investment by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help fund a first-in-Maine solar project in Livermore Falls that will provide solar energy to offset power needs at five public schools.

The 14,040-panel array is expected to produce 6,478,200 kilowatt hours annually at Souther Farms in the Androscoggin County town, north of Lewiston. The project is a partnership between ReVision Energy of Montville and Aligned Climate Capital, a New York City investment firm focused on clean solar energy and other sustainable assets.

The project will provide power to Camden Rockport School District, Camden Hills Regional High School, Mt. Blue Regional School District, Regional School Unit 73 and Hope Elementary School. The remaining 4% will benefit the Farmington Water District.

The USDA money will also go to four solar projects in New Hampshire, through a partnership between Aligned and energy provider Eversource. In all, the five solar arrays in Maine and New Hampshire will produce enough to power an average of 1,800 homes annually.

“This project is fantastic in its breadth,” Rhiannon Hampson, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s director for rural development in Maine, said in a news release.

The deal allows the schools to participate in the project as “off-takers” from the array under what is called a power purchase agreement. The energy produced by the array will go toward offsetting the schools’ energy needs, according to ReVision.

The remainder going to Farmington Water District will offset the electric bills of the off-takers through Maine’s net energy billing program.

The array was built on 20 acres leased from the landowners, Evelyn Norton and Priscilla Swartzlander, who were born in a farmhouse that still stands on the property. Their father Harold Souther, 98, was also born in the family’s generational home and still lives there as well.

Souther ran the dairy and poultry farm for years, taking over operations from his father. The farm is also used for pastureland, raising livestock and hay production.

“We think it’s a showpiece for incorporating solar while continuing farming,” Norton said in a separate release.

Norton said her father wanted to make sure the farm would stay in the family once he is gone and saw the solar farm as a way to ensure that. The money from the leased land will allow the family to keep the property.

“This project shows that smart, clean energy investments can benefit local communities,” said Peter Davidson, CEO of Aligned Climate Capital. “The schools are saving money by going solar, the family farm has more income, and we are all helping solve climate change.”

“Through this lease, Mr. Souther secured his generational family farm while helping several school districts offset carbon emissions and reduce utility costs,” said Hampson.