MAINE PUBLIC • September 9, 2025
Investigators from the Maine Public Utilities Commission have found the Passamaquoddy Tribe's plans to install solar panels on more than 200 homes in the Indian Township community will not violate state rules on the size of certain renewable energy developments. The project, funded with a $7.4 million federal grant, has been on hold since late last year after local utility Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative argued the rooftop arrays amounted to a single "discrete electric generating facility." An attorney who represents the Passamaquoddy in the dispute, said it is essential the tribe be allowed to move ahead with its project while it still has access to federal funding. The three-member PUC still needs to vote on whether to accept the examiners' report.