BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2026
Imagine purchasing a device, taking it home, setting it outside on a deck or a wall on a bright afternoon, plugging it in to an approved socket, and tapping into energy emitting photons from a star 91.53 million miles away. Within minutes your dishwasher, your lights will be powered not by costly fossil fuel energy but by the free energy of the sun. Imagine being able to reduce your utility bill by 20 to 40 percent! This scenario isn’t magic. Up to 4 million households in Germany have purchased that device, called plug-in-solar, and are using it, successfully offsetting their utility bills. Mainers could have access to plug-in-solar within the year if legislation is approved. LD 1730 would allow residents to use these devices without the burdensome and expensive interconnection requirements designed for large rooftop arrays. Tell your local representatives that you want them to support LD 1730, the plug-in solar bill. Twenty environmental organizations support this game-changing bill to make clean renewable energy accessible and affordable for all Mainers. ~ Kathleen Sullivan, Freeport