Solar companies now have to pay for the use of certain agricultural land

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Maine has adjusted its potential rules for solar development on valuable farmland and is now accepting public comments on a second draft.

Ground-based solar installations have become widespread in Maine since 2019, when Gov. Janet Mills signed a law making it easier to approve the projects. Local ordinances can limit them, but there haven’t been many restrictions at the state level.

A 2023 law sought to change that by placing emphasis on preserving solar sites. So the state’s Department of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forestry drafted rules that would make developers pay to install solar panels on 20 or more acres of valuable agricultural land. A first version was released for comment in August.

The new draft removes the categories of forested land and land of local value that were originally intended to be protected, as well as some steps that would have created more work for developers. Additionally, blueberry fallow land was added as a category that could become high-value land.

This is the latest information we have on how Maine will seek to preserve remaining farmland while increasing solar energy use as part of the state’s climate change plan. These two goals can be contradictory and sometimes divisive. The comment period, which began last week, provides an opportunity to comment before the rules take effect.

Both versions establish a permitting process and require developers to submit plans to the state showing that they tried to reduce impacts on valuable farmland when planning their projects.

The state has said the rules are unlikely to impact most projects.

The more valuable the farmland, the more “compensation fees” developers would have to pay to build large projects. These fees would be calculated and collected by the Department of Environmental Protection, which would transfer them to an Agriculture Department account that could be used for “farmland protection or solar radiation control projects.”

A survey by a state soil scientist would determine the value of the land for agriculture, and the fee calculation takes into account other factors such as the history of agriculture on the land and the possibilities for agricultural uses within the panels.

If a site was a “dual use” where a farmer grazed sheep or grew blueberries under the panels, no fees would be charged to early applicants. The same goes for panels on high-value properties that are contaminated with PFAS, or “forever chemicals.”

Based on previous public comments, forested lands are no longer considered to be of high agricultural value, even if the forest land would be well suited for agriculture, Craig Lapine, director of the Bureau of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, said in a public memo last week.

The new rules also eliminate the “locally valuable cropland” category because commenters felt it could result in large amounts of open land being classified as agriculturally valuable, Lapine said.

There was no formal definition for this category, but the ministry has described it as property that is important to a local community or economy, even if it does not have good arable land.

The latest draft also makes it easier to obtain permits for projects ranging in size from 5 to 20 acres or located on land contaminated with PFAS. These can be approved more quickly if they meet requirements, a process called approval by rule.

The first draft rule required developers of projects of this size to explain how they would meet state standards for best management practices. In the updated version, according to Lapine’s memo, all they have to do is say they will do it.

Solar advocates say farmers can make money to stay afloat in tough times by leasing some of their land to developers and farming the rest. In response, the ministry has reduced fees for projects that help an existing farm economically.

The fee structure was changed to place less emphasis on “conversion pressure,” or the likelihood that a farm could be sold or developed. In the new rules, this factor is only taken into account for projects on the best farmland in counties with high development pressure.

The draft also outlines an appeals process and enforcement actions for the rules.

Public comments are open until Friday, December 27 and can be sent by email or mail. The full draft and information is available on the department’s website.