The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department is currently searching for suspects who used construction vehicles to rampage through a solar farm, according to a Monday press release.
[RELATED: Heatwave Strains New England’s Power Grid After Nat Gas Generator Taken Offline…]
On Monday morning, sheriff’s deputies arrived at the Novel Energy Solutions Solar Farm in New Gloucester following reports that suspects used on-site construction equipment to rampage through the solar field, destroying the photovoltaic panels.
Investigators arrived on the scene to survey the damage and found that the vandals had inflicted several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of damage on the solar farm.
Investigators also believe that there were likely two or more people involved in the incident, and that it took place the night before deputies were called.
The sheriff’s office has called on the public for help in identifying the perpetrators, but has not released any information on their appearances or any other identifying characteristics.
If they are caught, the suspects will likely face charges for felony Aggravated Criminal Mischief, which can be applied to anyone who causes over $2,000 in damage through vandalism.
Law enforcement did not speculate about the motive behind the vandalism, but solar and other renewable energy sources have become a contentious issue across the state.
Throughout her time in office, Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) has pushed for more renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, projects that require significant taxpayer resources and have led to increased electrical rates across the state.
A hero does not always wear a cape
I guess not everyone is on board with the solar thing. I know those solar farms are some ugly to look at. Maybe one of the neighbors didn’t like the view and took action. The solar battles have begun.
The culprits may have planted a seed.
Nice use of dogshit AI images. Also “No word yet on the impact to global warming.”? Seriously? Could you sound more like an entitled prick?
Can we know more?
What about the chemicals released into the soil and ground water?
What effect will this have on our energy bills?
Who are the owners, and not the compamy name, the owners of the company.
And who will have to pay for the chemical clean up. Just like oil the chemical have to be cleaned up.
…altogether now: “AAAAWWW”
Love it 👏🏻
Don’t worry good citizens, CMP will ask for and be granted another rate hike to fix this mess…and the grift goes on!
Solar panels popping up in every field but still the power goes out every time the wind blows.
Awesome. let’s roll Anonymous vigilantism.
Solar flare up.
These actions are not condoned at all but most likely are due to systemic issues in the area. Violence and destruction are never the answer.
Anyone see the story out of California about cutting down hundreds of ‘Joshua” trees to put in a solar panel site?
New science shows severe environmental damage by solar stuff. I would suspect left wing environmentalists.
Solar panels and windmills are like strippers and pole dancers, they both stop working when you stop throwing money at them.
“Solar panels and windmills are like strippers and pole dancers, they both stop working when you stop throwing money at them.” Clueless. Keep sending your $s to arabs
Could it be that all these solar panels create a substantial amount of heat in the atmosphere? Seems environmentalists are the worst for making problems WORSE. CA is one great example. If Dems wind up 2ith Newsome on the ballot, God help us all.
This picture isn’t real.
…and now for the recycling fiasco. Hugely expensive to separate the goodies from other goodies and not many companies to actually employ on that kind of specialized project.
The guy who posted this is aptly named:
““Solar panels and windmills are like strippers and pole dancers, they both stop working when you stop throwing money at them.” Clueless. Keep sending your $s to arabs”
WE WERE NEAR ENERGY INDEPENDENT till Biden came in.
Definitely the right thing to do
I guess Jack Off would rather give money to the Chinese rather rather than use our own oil. Not to mention the destruction to the state. Heck the democrats even change the environmental laws to destroy the environment. Just follow the money, see which politicians are investing in “green” energy.
Maimeman45, this has nothing go do with CMP, as for your rates going up yes they are allowed to recover costs from storms. The bigger problem is Net Metering, where CMP is forced to connect all those solar panels at no charge to the solar farm thanks to the democrats in Augusta. Your rates are going up because of the Democrats in Augusta, not because of CMP, they are just a collection agency. Check out how much CMP is forced to give Efficiency Maine for all those rebates.
Don’t care about some wanna be solar company trying to make a buck and us farm land owners get screwed and get nothing and I hate the way they look out in a once beautiful field, put them on your damn city skyscrapers assholes!!!
If solar worked wouldn’t every home in America have solar panels? If EV vehicles worked wouldn’t every car on the road be an EV? Let’s face reality the push for so called renewable energy is strictly a redistribution of wealth! Stop the insanity the only renewable anything is the amazing earth, and God created that!
How about some ugly wind turbines instead? Apparently the perps like having their balls gripped by OPEC.
So it sounds like the majority of the posters against private property rights and pro vandalism. So much for the “rights” belief in freedom, liberty and private property rights. I am sure one of the people posting on here is the culprit. I hope they catch them and they spend a long time in prison.
I wanna pay all of my paycheck out because of “Green” energy………..NOT!
Solar and wind raise electrical rates? Democrat logic!
Climate Change is FAKE ! Carbon is an integral part of photosynthesis. See the proof at CVHOAX.COM
Solar is already inefficient to start, but to place all those panels so far north, is really nuts….somebody wanted to take advantage of govt subsidies….
I can speak of these topics, my solar system has been govt subsidized over 150% of original cost. The amount of electricity my system generates would never pay for the system before the system runs it’s 20 year course, and I’m in Virginia where solar is better than Maine but still less than southern Ca.
Coal pollution is so much better 🤡💩👿
Wow… a “news outlet” where every reader (or every commenter) is a completely uninformed Trumper! The amount of vitriolic encouragement of vandalism and destruction of things that are benefitting all American citizens directly or indirectly just mirrors what these commenters are doing to our democracy and country. Funny how little they understand subsidies of the petroleum industry and the economics of bringing on ALL power sources into our energy mix. So sad.
Please don’t use AI images. If you can’t afford to take a photo, that’s OK. But this is journalism, not a prompt to fantasy.
How did they acquire the land they put there solar farm on ? Was it done legally?did anyone check out the whole deed and how it was acquired ? Just wondering?
I fell for this scam the last time around. Been an electrical/software engineer 25 years now. One of my first realisations was we cannot power the country on solar panels and batteries. Even without EV’s (not even close). I wondered why we weren’t going with nuclear. Then, when they put every single one of us out of business that used to repair Electronics,(I used to make $1500/day straight out of college), it became apparent. They invested while giving it all to China so we could have cheap junk to toss in landfills.(Where is all the concern for the planet in THAT?) Now they’re going to do the EXACT same thing with solar panels and batteries (ever notice how LED light bulbs don’t last as long as the old incandescents?) Those panels and batteries aren’t going to last near as long as people think.
This is all about enriching the elite and consolidating govt control over American energy.
The “renewable” part comes in 10 years when there are thousands of acres of junk panels and batteries needing replaced. The elite will “renew” their bank accounts! And since recycling will not be profitable the govt will subsidize it so we can pay for that too. This sham has infuriated me for 20 years!
I think alot of you ppl in the comments are misinformed…as far as recycling there is a company called qcells that has recently started to recycle the panels without doing damage to the environment….also the bullshit about chemicals going into the ground is complete fake information ….when solar sites leases are up they must put property back exactly how it was before they got there …and not only provides jobs and contracts to local companies in rural areas that don’t see as much business in there small town through out the year….they can be an eye sore without a doubt but there definitely do more good then harm …also for the idiot that Saud the power goes out when it’s windy …any power will go out if it’s connected to overhead power lines that’s why in upstate ny there running the electrical lines underground so that doesn’t happen …I think the ppl in these comments need to do sum actual research instead of just spreading there political and personal thoughts instead of facts
Time to enact the death penalty on the criminals and their families who are out to destroy anything that helps the environment.
Look at the big picture. Opec+ is sitting on 90% of the known oil reserves on this planet. That’s an absolute monopoly, and our economy would suffer if we became dependant on them. Currently, this administration has ramped up production to the highest of any country in the world, at 15 million barrels/day. That’s very good for the economy, but it’s temporary. American energy companies don’t just invest in oil production, that would ultimately lower their profits as Opec+ gained market share. That’s what these investments in wind, solar, hydro, and fusion are all about.
I’m so happy someone is finally taking action. I’d be thrilled to see all the solar fields destroyed!!!!
Destroying or even bad mouthing solar panels will become a new “hate crime”.
You can do whatever you want so long as you don’t get caught. I hope these guys prove the old saying once again.
Give the vandals an award!
The enviro-terrorists whine about habitat destruction for power lines, etc., but support stripping the environment for solar farms that kill ALL the flora & fona!
Destroy them all!