Alna resident Al Monaco stands in front of the ground-mounted solar array that helps power his Alna Road property. Monaco opened his home to solar-curious visitors on Saturday, June 21, as part of a solar home tour organized by the Alna Climate Action Committee. (Molly Rains photo)

Some of Alna’s solar energy converts opened their homes to curious neighbors on Saturday, June 21, in an effort to forward conversations about what renewable energy can look like for residents.

“There’s a lot of interest growing in the community. What we’re trying to do with the tour program is make it accessible to people … Demystify (solar) a bit, and encourage them to take the leap,” said Karen Rose, chair of the Alna Climate Action Committee.

The solar tour was planned in tandem with an Alna Community Solar Day celebration earlier that afternoon where residents celebrated the completion of solar panels on the town’s fire station.

The panels facilitated the transition of all of Alna’s municipal services to solar power. They were purchased with a $44,000 Community Action Grant from the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future that also allowed for the purchase of five portable batteries that residents can borrow during power outages, helping Alna jump start what committee members said they believe is the first municipal battery lending program of its kind in the state.

The town worked on the grant application with the assistance of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission, according to Climate Action Committee member Ed Pentaleri.

“It really makes a difference, and we can achieve fantastic things if we’ve got people in the community that can step up,” Pentaleri said.

Alna Fire Chief Mike Trask said he considered the panels a clear step toward saving the town money on electric bills.

The panels are expected to save the town about $4,000 yearly, said Pentaleri.

Rose said she hoped to see more community members adopt solar energy at their homes because it can help residents save on energy costs and make Alna more climate resilient as a community.

Outside her home on Golden Ridge Road, Alna Planning Board Chair Cathy Johnson said she was drawn to install rooftop solar panels for both those reasons and more.

“I liked the idea of clean energy, and over time, it’s definitely going to be cheaper for us,” she said. Johnson had solar panels installed at her home in 2012 and said she had not had to perform maintenance on them since then.

The original panels provided enough energy for Johnson’s household for more than 10 years.

When she and her husband purchased a fully electric car, they needed to add to their power supply, so they bought into a solar farm; now, they hardly, if ever, have to buy gas, and only pay the baseline metering fee to Central Maine Power, Johnson said.

Resident Al Monaco also opened his property to visitors June 21. He originally installed solar panels out of a desire to be fully off-grid at his Alna Road home, he said. He built the supports for his ground-mounted array himself for a few hundred dollars, and the setup provided more than enough power for his property, he said.

About eight years ago, Monaco and his wife purchased a fully electric car. They chose to link into the grid to facilitate charging it without draining their solar power supply, but their original solar panels, and an additional array Monaco added on his property, help keep their electric bill low, he said.

“It’s nice to keep some of these projects going,” said state Rep. Wayne Farrin, D-Jefferson, who represents District 47 in the Maine House of Representatives. Farrin said he and the legislature were working to keep funding opportunities available for projects like the grant that brought solar to the Alna fire station.

“It’s made an impact,” Rose said later. “It goes back to the idea of, Maine can’t wait.”