By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The local selectmen responded warmly to the idea of passing a moratorium on solar energy projects.

To be clear, the passage of the moratorium will not shut out any solar energy project applications that have already been submitted to the Town of Naples. 

The Naples Board of Selectmen on Monday voted unanimously, 5-0, to support the adoption of a six-month moratorium on solar energy projects. The moratorium will therefore be on the annual town meeting warrant for voters to approve as well.  

Naples Planning Board Chair Doug Bogdan brought the request to the selectmen following a discussion at the planning board level. 

“The majority of the board was in favor of a moratorium,” Bogdan said. 

In 2020, the Naples voters passed a solar ordinance that allowed solar arrays to be in places like former gravel or sand pits. In 2021, the amendments were adopted. The Naples Ordinance Review Committee (ORC) crafted an ordinance allowing residents to use solar for their private use. Among other things, for larger solar-array projects, the ordinance prevents impacts to the viewshed from the road and from bodies of water.

So, a Solar Energy Ordinance is in place. However, elected officials would like to close any gaps, and be specific about topics not previously put in the ordinance.  

“Nobody has addressed the disposal. Nobody has discussed the noise,” Chairman Jim Grattelo said.   

Selectman Kevin Rogers read the section of the ordinance that delved into decommission of solar-array equipment after 25 years of usage. 

Bogdan said the planning board members were aware of what was written so far.  

“Our concern is what is going to happen with that material. Is it going to be a hazardous waste? How are we going to deal with it? What is going to happen with these things in 20-plus years,” he said.

Because solar energy on a commercial level is relatively new to Maine, “I don’t think there has been anything decommissioned in this state yet,” he said. 

Two other planning board members shared their views with the selectmen, and a representativefrom one of the solar energy businesses also stepped to the microphone.

“The fact that Naples has an ordinance for solar is truly great. Other towns are scrambling,” Planning Board member Martina Witts said. 

“Our ordinance has a decommission component to it,” she said. 

She expressed concerns about some of the hazardous materials such as lead, silicon tetrachloride and polyvinyl fluoride, contained  in solar equipment.  

In the past four months, the planning board has approved four solar projects that will encompass more than 160 acres of land, Witts said. Adding up the kilowatts that could be produced, there was more power being generated that all the households in Naples could use, she said. 

“I raised the concern about the moratorium. There are some gaps in the ordinance,” Planning Board alternate Marty Zartarian said. “It is a great ordinance but there is the uncertainty of visual buffers. If someone is in rural district, it cannot be visible. If someone is in commercial district, they can be visible from the roads.” 

“There are no standards on noise,” he said.

The audio from some of the equipment is at same decibel as a vacuum cleaner. While a vacuum cleaner isn’t that loud, having it 50 feet from a house might be annoying to the homeowner, he said.

“This [the noise] can be mitigated, but it needs to be put in the ordinance,” Zartarian said. 

Alan Robertson, the managing director of solar development with BlueWave Solar, said he was “speaking out for not doing a moratorium.”

“The ordinance is extremely prohibitive, he said. “It is extremely prohibitative and also responsibible.”

“My organization for this particular project have been doing a lot of due deligience. The project on Harrison Road will not be visible from the lake or roads,” he said. 

“The state’s decommissioning standards are more stringent. In addition to telling the state where we are going to decommision it, we have to update it every five years,” he said.

He addressed Witt’s concern about hazardous materials. 

“Once upon a time, they were hazardous. They no longer use lead. The reality of solar rays. The vast majority of the equipment is aluminium, copper. Everything is recyclable. That wasn’t the case 10 years ago,” he said. 

“Our project still needs off-takers. Our plan is to go to Town of Naples first and local businesseses,” Robertson said. “There is a lot of stake that could be of benefit to the town. A moratorium could be detrimental to the town.”