PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Two Maine wood-fired power plants remain inactive despite receiving approval for $1.2 million in state subsidies.
The Portland Press Herald reports a July performance report shows the plants only purchased a small fraction of the wood fuel they promised to buy. The newspaper reports owner Stored Solar has trimmed the plants’ workforce and plans to restart the plants in the fall.
The plants make electricity with leftover wood from forestry operations and sawdust from lumber mills.
Maine’s Public Utilities Commission this year voted to give Stored Solar $1.2 million out of a state subsidy meant to keep the plants alive.
A Store Solar representative said that running the plants is uneconomical because of low wholesale electricity prices and values for renewable energy credits in New England.
