Maine solar leads

How much sun Portland receives

Portland is Maine’s largest city in the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimates and serves as the sunlight reference. The National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly NREL, puts the solar radiation on a standard array there at 4.48 kWh per square meter per day in its PVWatts calculator (checked October 9, 2026).

Method: PVWatts version 8 with its default fixed, open-rack array, tilted 20 degrees and facing south, located at Portland’s Census gazetteer point and run on the National Solar Radiation Database typical year. Inland and northern Maine, snow cover and roof angle all move the real figure, so it is useful for comparing places rather than for sizing any one system.

Net energy billing in Maine

Maine calls its program net energy billing. The Public Utilities Commission’s Net Energy Billing page says the program is governed by P.L. 2019, c. 478, P.L. 2021, c. 390 and Chapter 313 of the PUC rules, and that projects must be renewable generators of less than 5 MW (checked October 9, 2026). Residential and small commercial customers receive kilowatt-hour credits on their bills; commercial and institutional customers receive dollar credits at tariff rates the PUC sets. A customer may own a rooftop project or share in a larger one in the same utility territory.

The same PUC page says that entities marketing projects to residential or small commercial customers must be registered with the commission and must give those customers an NEB disclosure form describing the project’s costs and benefits. The statute, 35-A M.R.S. 3209-A, adds consumer protection duties for project sponsors that solicit customers for shared projects, including compliance with federal and state telemarketing rules (checked October 9, 2026).

Subsections 10 and 11 of that section, added in 2025, say that after December 31, 2025 the commission may not allow a utility to enter into a net energy billing agreement with a resource connected, or planned to be connected, on the utility side of a customer’s meter. How the program applies to a particular home is a question for the utility and the PUC.

Plug-in solar and interconnection disputes

Maine has a separate notice rule for small plug-in systems. The PUC’s Plug-In Solar page explains that under 35-A M.R.S. 3475(5), a customer who installs an eligible plug-in photovoltaic or battery system with combined inverter output above 420 watts and no more than 1,200 watts per service address must notify the utility on the commission’s form within 30 days of installation (checked October 9, 2026). Eligible systems must meet a listed safety standard or the adopted electrical code.

For rooftop solar and batteries that need a full interconnection, the PUC’s small solar interconnection page describes a dispute process in Section 15 of Chapter 324 of its rules: good faith negotiation, then informal resolution with commission staff, then a formal proceeding if needed. The commission also has an Interconnection Ombudsman under 35-A M.R.S. 3474(4) and Chapter 328.

Maine property tax treatment of solar equipment

Maine’s property tax law includes a solar exemption. For property tax years beginning on or after April 1, 2025, 36 M.R.S. 656(1)(L) exempts solar energy equipment that generates heat or electricity if all of the energy is used on site, and in certain net energy billing cases set out in the section (checked October 9, 2026).

To claim it, the owner files a report with the local assessor on or before April 1 of the first tax year, on a form prescribed by the State Tax Assessor. The statute sets no dollar figure and this page gives none; how it applies to a given property is a question for the assessor or a tax professional.

Maine counties by owner-occupied detached homes

The table ranks Maine’s ten counties with the most owner-occupied single-family detached homes, with each county’s owner-occupied homes and detached share, from ACS 5-year 2020-2024 table B25032, county level. It is a housing table and implies nothing about where leads come from.

Cumberland and York, the two southern coastal counties, together account for 134,935 owner-occupied detached homes in the 2020-2024 county estimates. Hancock has the highest detached share in the ten at 90.3%, and Androscoggin the lowest at 80.7%.

What Maine solar buyers filter on

Solar buyers set filters on a short list of lead fields. Here is how each one relates to the Maine facts above:

• Homeowner status: an owner signs for a rooftop system; the owner-occupied detached homes above show the pool.
• Project type: what kind of solar project the homeowner asks about, in general terms; the exact options are set when the solar form is finalized.
• Timeframe: whether the homeowner wants to start this season or is still comparing, which in Maine often depends on snow and roof access.
• ZIP code: buyers choose the ZIP codes their crews serve, from the southern coast to Aroostook, with the county table as a guide to housing.

The filters for Maine solar leads are agreed with each buyer during onboarding. Exclusive or shared routing for solar leads is agreed with each buyer during onboarding. See the sample solar lead for every field.

Request Maine solar leads

Email us the Maine ZIP codes you cover, your daily volume or caps and how you take delivery. ReturnReturnA buyer's request for credit on a lead that fails agreed standards, such as a disconnected number, a duplicate or a lead outside the filters. Glossary terms are agreed on the onboarding call, before you go live.