LIVERMORE FALLS — The USDA [United States Department of Agriculture] has invested $15.2 Million into an initiative between Maine and New Hampshire to create renewable energy sources and expand on electric infrastructure in rural communities. The recently completed solar farm at Souther Farms are among the different sources that will benefit from these funds.

“Aligned deeply appreciates our partnership with the USDA Rural Utilities Service,” Peter Davidson, CEO of Aligned Climate Capital, said in a press release. “Together, we have brought low-cost, clean energy to rural electric customers throughout northern New England.”

On top of this, the USDA is also investing $2.7 billion across 26 states to help 64 electric cooperatives and utilities expand and modernize the nation’s rural electric grid and increase grid security for nearly 2 million people. The other states are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

These funds were announced on Jan. 30, and will be distributed to Aligned Solar Partners, who are responsible for five newly built solar farms across Maine and New Hampshire. Among those five solar farms is the 14,040-panal array that was constructed at Souther Farms in Livermore Falls.

The farm, which had its ribbon cutting ceremony in March of last year, is providing 96 percent of its solar energy to five public schools in the state, offsetting the energy cost of 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 percent is allocated to the Farmington Water District. It is anticipated that the project will produce 6,478,200 kilowatt hours of clean energy annually.

According to Suzi Emmerling, vice president of Boundary Stone Partners, Aligned Solar Partners plan on using the funds to ensures the long-term operation and financing of the solar arrays at Souther Farms. “Essentially, this is the equivalent of a mortgage for a home,” she said in an email.

Over at Mt. Blue High School, the campus is getting more out of the Souther Farm than just electricity. The Foster Career and Technical Education Center has taken advantage of the educational opportunity of the solar farm.

Jake Bogar, Pre-Engineering instructor at the CTE center, has taken several trips to Souther Farm with pre-engineering students to understand the different aspects of solar, like their construction, installation and even the reasoning behind the different angles.

“Lower angles can allow for more sunlight to be harvested during longer days of the year when the sun is higher in the sky, reduce wind loading on the panels/rack systems, and place more panels in the same area with less risk of shading an adjacent row,” Bogar stated in an email.

Bogar continued, “Although, lower angles can also make it more challenging to shed snow and ice. These kinds of trade-offs present relevant and practical opportunities for students to analyze and consider novel solutions to designing and maintaining solar farms in the western Maine foothills.”

In the classroom, Bogar is also taking advantage of other aspects of projects like the solar farm, which is the paperwork involved. A long-term contract between Mt. Blue High School and ReVision Energy was drafted and signed, and a copy of that contract was donated to the center by RSU 9 board member Irv Faunce of Wilton.

“Reviewing the contract helped students to better understand how we are able to save money and protect our district from volatile electrical energy price increases that many consumers have unfortunately experienced this new year,” Bogar stated.

As for the school itself, it has been drawing power from the solar farm since December of 2021. Over the last year, over half of the electricity in the school is pulled from Souther Farm, according to Superintendent Christian Elkington.

When asked about issues with power outages or things of the like, Elkington reported no changes in service or power outages. As for savings, he stated, “It is hard to determine electricity savings with costs going up this past year, but we are seeing savings.”

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