Saddleback Mountain Ski Resort, owned by Arctaris Impact Investors LLC, has engaged with Nexamp for the construction of a new 31-acre community solar farm on its Maine property that will generate 7.36 MW of energy.
The solar project will offset more than 14 million pounds of carbon annually while reducing Saddleback’s energy costs and adding new operational revenue through a long-term lease agreement.
Arctaris is an Impact Investment group that purchased Saddleback in 2020. Saddleback led the development effort, which included site selection, permitting and obtaining an interconnection agreement with Central Maine Power. Saddleback is now partnering with Nexamp, which will construct and operate the solar farm.
“Saddleback has a long history in Maine as a family destination that has provided important economic, employment and recreational opportunities in western Maine,” states Jonathan Tower, founder and managing partner of Arctaris. “We are committed to positioning Saddleback for long-term sustainability, both economic and environmental. With this project, Arctaris is significantly advancing both of those goals.”
Under Maine’s Net Energy Billing program enacted by the Mills administration in 2019, the community solar farm will generate clean energy that is sent directly to the Central Maine Power (CMP) grid, providing credits for subscribers to help reduce their annual electric expense.
“The Saddleback project is representative of the very real benefits available to businesses in proactively addressing the climate challenge,” says John Murphy, Nexamp’s senior vice president of corporate development. “In pursuing this initiative, the resort is helping to achieve Maine’s ambitious renewable deployment and decarbonization goals while controlling operating costs and generating meaningful revenue for additional capital improvements.”
Construction on the solar farm is expected to begin in early 2022 and is on track to be generating clean energy for the CMP grid by the start of the 2022-23 ski season.
