In the coming months, the state government will be studying ways to increase the use of renewable energy in and improve the energy efficiency of Maine’s public schools.
Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed a resolution in late March directing the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) to conduct a study evaluating “opportunities for clean energy and energy efficiency programs in schools.”
By January 31, 2025, the MDOE’s Office of Innovation must “study and develop guidance” for public elementary and secondary schools to achieve “energy efficiency” and “maximiz[e] the use of clean energy.”
This work is to be conducted in coordination with the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) and the Efficiency Maine Trust.
“The guidance developed through this study,” the resolve states, “must address how the programs and contracting options reviewed…may be effectively accessed and used by public elementary and secondary schools in the State and how [they] can incorporate the best practices and standards reviewed.”
This coalition of government agencies must also develop “contracting guidance” for public schools to assist “with saving money through energy efficiency, clean energy and clean transportation projects.”
These reports are to be presented to the appropriate legislative committees early next year and may include recommended legislation.
Click Here to Read the Final Text of LD 1606
Originally, this bill — introduced by Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland) last year — would have created a grant program to finance energy audits and feasibility studies for “renewable energy or energy efficiency retrofit projects” in public elementary and secondary schools.
The initial draft of this bill also sought to establish a pilot project giving these schools zero-interest loans to finance the “upfront costs of distributed generation solar or energy efficiency retrofit projects.”
Click Here to Read the Original Text of LD 1606
Before the Energy, Utilities and Technology (EUT) Committee reported its recommendations to the full Legislature, however, the bill was replaced with the resolve directing MDOE to conduct a study and develop guidance.
Although the EUT Committee was split along partisan lines — with all Democrat members supporting the resolution and all Republicans opposing it — both the House and Senate approved it without roll call votes.
Gov. Mills then signed the resolution into law on March 25, 2024.
