Maine Audubon Renewable Energy Siting Tool

Maine is in the midst of a new era of renewable energy development. In 2019, Governor Mills signed into law ambitious renewable energy targets for the state, requiring that 80% of Maine’s electricity come from renewable resources by 2030 and 100% by 2050. In addition, electricity use is expected to grow significantly as more Maine people transition away from fossil fuels to help meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, especially in the transportation and building sectors.

Renewable energy development is critical to combating climate change and presents many opportunities for Maine people, including good jobs and lower energy costs. But with these tremendous opportunities comes potential conflict with Maine’s wildlife and natural resources. Like any new land use or development, if renewable energy development is not thoughtfully sited and operated, it could displace wildlife habitat and otherwise unduly impact Maine’s natural resources.

The purpose of Maine Audubon’s Renewable Energy Siting Tool is to provide resources developers and decision-makers need to locate solar and land-based wind projects in areas that avoid or minimize negative impacts to important wildlife habitats. While many of these data layers are individually available elsewhere, this tool brings these datasets together into one map, and allows the visual display of the siting principles developed by Maine Audubon’s biologists and ecologists. Some of the natural resource values depicted in this map include:

The Renewable Energy Siting Tool includes data layers that fall within five different categories: Energy Resource Layers, Environmental Layers, Previously Developed Layers, Agricultural Land Layers, and Administrative Boundaries and Roads for Navigation. Some layers, due to their level of detail, are only available at certain zoom levels.

The tool follows a "Stoplight" model in which red, yellow, and green shading is used to indicate potential compatibility with renewable energy projects.

The “Renewable Energy Siting Tool” is designed for general planning purposes only. It is not intended to be used as a regulatory tool, nor does it remove the responsibility of the user to consult with natural resource agencies where necessary. Not all natural resources or other resources necessary for siting renewable energy projects are depicted in this tool, and data layers may be updated as new information becomes available. 

To access the "Renewable Energy Siting Tool", simply click the following button.

This section describes the basic functions of the Renewable Energy Siting Tool and caters to users who have no Geographic Information System (GIS) background and/or have not interfaced with a web application hosted on Esri’s online platform. The section will introduce users to basic GIS terminology and familiarize users with how best to navigate the web application. Users who are familiar with GIS and Esri products are advised to skip ahead to the “Advanced Analysis Tools” section. 

This section highlights the analytical capabilities embedded within the Renewable Energy Siting Tool using each of the three buttons in the upper right corner of the map. This section includes a step-by-step guide as well as guidance on when to use each tool, as the outputs for two of them can be similar. All users are advised to review this section before using the tools in order to easily evaluate the potential environmental impact of any solar or onshore wind project.

The first tool, depicted as a ruler on the button, is a simple measuring tool. It can be used to calculate distance or area in a variety of units.

The second tool is the Quick Assessment Tool. It can be used to quickly assess an area against a list of preset features.

The third tool is the Screening Tool. It can be used to assess an area against any of the features in the map if they are turned on. This tool also provides the ability to create a hard copy or PDF version of the report.

The differences between the outputs from the Quick Assessment Tool and the Screening Tool are outlined in the following image: