Power Infrastructure: Grid Power On Site, Solar Proposed

Power Options for Your Recirculating Aquaculture System

A recirculating aquaculture system depends on continuous, reliable power for pumping, filtration, chilling, and heating. Palom Aquaculture's site at 184 Corea Road already has three-phase electrical service in place — a meaningful head start, since bringing three-phase power to a greenfield site can take months and significant capital.

Beyond the existing grid connection, the site has been engineered to support two additional layers of energy flexibility: backup generation and solar. This page covers all three, and is clear about what already exists versus what is proposed for a future owner to build.

Existing Infrastructure — The Local Grid

Versant Power is the electricity distributor for the Bangor Hydro District, which serves this site. Maine allows commercial customers to choose their own supplier, so an operator can shop competitively for the supply portion of their bill while Versant continues to handle delivery.

Based on current Maine PUC standard offer filings and Maine Department of Energy rate data, large commercial users in the Bangor Hydro District are paying an effective all-in rate of approximately $0.35 per kWh as of 2026, reflecting several years of grid maintenance and storm-hardening cost increases layered onto the supply price. A large-scale RAS operation running roughly 1,200,000 kWh per year at this rate would see an annual grid electricity cost in the range of $420,000, before any negotiated large-user or third-party supply discount.

Three-phase service is already at the site. This is existing, confirmed infrastructure — not a proposal.

Proposed Solar Array — Not Yet Constructed

Important: the solar array described below is a proposed system. It has not been purchased, installed, or constructed. Palom Aquaculture has engineered and priced this system as an investment case for the buyer to evaluate and build, not as an asset conveyed with the property today.

The proposed system is a 460 kW array using ZNShine ZXM7-SH144, 550W panels, laid out across roof and/or ground-mounted locations on site. Each panel is approximately 4' x 8'; the full array would require roughly 30,000 sq. ft. of usable roof or land area. Roof-mounted sections would add an estimated 3.00 lbs/sq. ft. of additional load, which is within typical structural tolerances for this type of building but should be confirmed during buyer due diligence.

The estimated all-in installed cost for the proposed system is approximately $1,900,000.

Solar ROI — Base Case and Conservative Case

Solar output in Maine varies with weather, panel angle, and seasonal daylight. Rather than present a single optimistic number, we show two scenarios:

Base Case: 1,175 kWh per kW per year — this is the NREL PVWatts-derived capacity factor for this latitude and coastal climate zone. Cloud cover and normal seasonal variation are already built into this figure; it is not a "sunny day" estimate.

Conservative Case: 1,000 kWh per kW per year — a further 15% reduction layered on top of the NREL base figure, to account for Maine-specific factors that standard capacity-factor modeling doesn't fully capture: snow coverage on panels during winter months, inverter and system downtime, and cumulative panel degradation over the equipment's lifespan.

At a 460 kW system size and the current effective grid rate of approximately $0.35/kWh, and accounting for approximately 0.5% annual panel degradation:

Solar Generation Production Values kWh

These figures assume no federal tax credit (see below) and are calculated purely against current grid electricity costs, which are rising faster in Maine than in nearly every other state due to ongoing infrastructure and storm-hardening investment

A Note on Federal Solar Tax Credits

The federal Section 48E commercial solar Investment Tax Credit remains law, but its favorable terms are tied to a construction-start deadline of July 4, 2026. Projects that begin construction after that date must be fully placed in service by December 31, 2027 to retain any credit eligibility — a compressed timeline that most industry analysts consider impractical for a project of this size starting from scratch.

Because this array has not yet been constructed, and a new owner would not realistically be positioned to break ground before the deadline, the ROI figures above are shown without any federal tax credit assumption. This is a deliberately conservative approach: if credit terms change, or if a buyer can structure the project to qualify under a different pathway (such as third-party ownership), the economics would improve. We would rather show you the number that holds up regardless.

Why This Still Matters for an Incoming Operator

Fish health in a RAS system depends on stable pumping, filtration, and temperature control — power-hungry processes that run around the clock. An operator relying solely on grid power will tend to throttle back during high-demand periods to manage cost, which is exactly when fish need consistent conditions most. A solar array, once built, lets an operator use power based on what the fish need rather than what the meter allows, with the added benefit of net metering to bank excess generation against grid draw during low-sun periods.

The real existing advantage here isn't the solar array — it's everything that makes building one straightforward: three-phase service already on site, available roof and land area already identified and measured, and an engineered system spec ready for a buyer's own contractor to price and permit.

Related Pages

Ready to evaluate the full site, including power and solar?

Start the Acquisition Process →

Critical Note

© 2026 Palom Aquaculture LLC. Solar figures are illustrative estimates based on quoted system specs and current rate data. No tax credit is assumed in the ROI calculations above. Buyers should consult a qualified solar developer and tax advisor before making any investment decision based on these projections. Rate data sourced from Maine Maine Department of Energy and Maine PUC filings; verify current rates for due diligence purposes.