Research snapshot · Energy · 31 August 2026

Solar and renewables in Maine: 49 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 114 dated municipal records flagged as solar and renewables in Maine, spanning 49 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in Scarborough, 3 November 2004. Since then 49 Maine towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Lincoln on 10 August 2026.

The last 90 days put 5 meetings on the record, down from 14 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Planning Board, Town Council and City Council.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202554
Dec 2025 to Feb 20261810
Mar 2026 to May 2026147
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)54

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 18 meetings.

The towns on the record49, earliest first

Every Maine town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Scarboroughearliest 2004-11-03 · 1 meeting · latest 2004-11-03 · the document Section XIV. Village Residential Districts
Windhamearliest 2015-04-02 · 1 meeting · latest 2015-04-02 · the agenda 12-14-09 Agenda
Caribouearliest 2018-06-21 · 4 meetings · latest 2025-11-17 · the agenda Agenda
Wellsearliest 2019-03-05 · 1 meeting · latest 2019-03-05 · the document 03-05-19 Warrant
Lewistonearliest 2020-01-21 · 1 meeting · latest 2020-01-21 · the minutes CC-Mins-01-21-20
Bridgtonearliest 2022-01-18 · 2 meetings · latest 2022-05-05 · the ordinance 2022 Ordinance Establishing a Moratorium on Commercial Solar Energy Facilities
Milfordearliest 2022-04-19 · 1 meeting · latest 2022-04-19 · the minutes 04/19/2022 Minutes
Limestoneearliest 2022-08-03 · 1 meeting · latest 2022-08-03 · the minutes 3
Chelseaearliest 2022-11-09 · 1 meeting · latest 2022-11-09 · the minutes November 9, 2022 Meeting
Yorkearliest 2023-03-16 · 1 meeting · latest 2023-03-16 · the minutes AgendaCenter minutes
Turnerearliest 2023-06-07 · 5 meetings · latest 2025-12-01 · the minutes pb minutes 01-17-24
Actonearliest 2023-06-19 · 6 meetings · latest 2023-10-03 · the document April 13, 2023
Livermore Fallsearliest 2023-07-27 · 7 meetings · latest 2025-05-21 · the agenda PB 5.21.2025 Agenda
Greeneearliest 2023-08-08 · 1 meeting · latest 2023-08-08 · the minutes PB Minutes 8-8-23.pdf
Presque Isleearliest 2023-10-11 · 6 meetings · latest 2026-01-01 · the ordinance Chapter 60 Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Ordinance

And 34 more towns on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

24 August 2026 · Jay Unknown

the agenda, on the town's own site August 24, 2026

10 August 2026 · Lincoln

the public notice, on the town's own site NOTICE REGARDING ELECTRICAL PERMITS

3 August 2026 · Biddeford Sustainability Commission

the meeting packet, on the town's own site Sustainability Commission 2026-08-03 — Sustainability Commission

2 July 2026 · Falmouth Recycling & Energy Advisory Committee

the meeting packet, on the town's own site 2026.07.02 Sustainability Committee Meeting — Packet

Companies on this record233 companies, 80 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
Maine DEPNaples, Presque Isle, Turner and 1 more
AVCOGLivermore Falls, Oxford, Wilton
Central Maine PowerJefferson, Livermore Falls, Naples
Dead River CompanyOxford, Presque Isle, Wells
Bangor Tire CompanyBrewer
Maine Emergency Management AgencyBrewer
Win-Win Resale StoreBrewer
Advanced Drainage SystemsBiddeford, Rumford
AECOMBiddeford, Rumford
AES CorporationBiddeford, Rumford
AirgasBiddeford, Rumford
AmazonBiddeford, Rumford
American Water WorksBiddeford, Rumford
ArcadisBiddeford, Rumford
AT&TBiddeford, Rumford
Hannaford'sKennebunk, York
SMPDCKennebunk, York
Acadia Federal Credit UnionBrewer
Acton Public Access TelevisionActon
Antique Automobile Club of AmericaPresque Isle
Aroostook Cab CompanyPresque Isle
Caribou Solar Power, LLCCaribou
Charles & Traci HalversonPresque Isle
Clark’s LodgePresque Isle
Cobbossee Watershed DistrictWinthrop
EmeraCaribou
Jones AssociatesCaribou
Mad Kat Inc.Brewer
Mad Kat Inc. d/b/a Mad Kat Restaurant and BarBrewer
Maine Criminal Justice AcademyBrewer

And 203 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 59 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Solar and renewables across the country. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Solar and renewables, Maine

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Maine

every topic this state carries

Area

Energy

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

49

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

3 November 2004

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

5 against 14 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours