Site visit to Matinicus Island in May 2024. Photo credit: The Island Institute
The Midcoast Villager featured a project to develop a new power plant on Matinicus Island, the design of which was funded through a 2024 Community Action Grant from the Community Resilience Partnership (CRP).
The article notes that the new power plant includes electrical storage capability that "could hold the island for five or six hours in the summertime, maybe 30 hours in winter" as well as a new solar power system with a "160 kW solar field that takes on a substantial portion of the island’s load," enough that the plant's diesel engine "typically runs for only a couple of hours a day and it consumes less than a quarter of the fuel the old generators used."
Explore more grant projects on the Community Action Grant story map.