TIMOTHY HOBBS, state director of USDA Rural Development, second left, and Fortunat Mueller, co-founder of ReVision Energy, shake hands following Hobb's announcement Wednesday that his agency is providing $1.5 million in financing for the solar project at Brunswick Landing. At far left is Oakley Dyer, corporate vice president of Diversified Communications, while next to Mueller is Tom Brubaker, public works and utilities manager for Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. At far right is Ben Sturtevant, marketing and communications manager for MRRA. DARCIE MOORE / THE TIMES RECORD BRUNSWICK

Rows of 4,500 solar panels stand at attention at the former Naval air station that is now Brunswick Landing, turning the sun’s rays into energy while eliminating more than 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

The 1.5-megawatt solar facility was made possible in part by the USDA Rural Development, which announced Wednesday it is providing $1.5 million in financing for the $3 million system. Timothy Hobbs, the state director for USDA Rural Development, said the funds are coming from the Electric Loan Program, to assist in financing the solar farm infrastructure.

Already in use, the power generated by the array feeds into the microgrid at Brunswick Landing.

Tom Brubaker, the public works and utilities manager for Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, said the solar project is a milestone in the plan to make Brunswick Landing self-sufficient.

The array will generate approximately 13 percent of the total energy required by the sprawling campus. An on-site anaerobic digester provides the potential to generate up to 75 percent of the total energy demand.

ReVision Energy designed and built the project, which was bought by operator Diversified Communications of Portland. MRRA has the option to eventually purchase the system outright.

THE 1.5-MEGAWATT SOLAR FACILITY at Brunswick Landing was made possible in part by the USDA Rural Development, which announced Wednesday it is providing $1.5 million in financing for the $3 million system. DARCIE MOORE / THE TIMES RECORD USDA Rural Development has invested more than $4 billion in rural Maine communities in the past decade, which includes more than $20 million in electric loans. Those loans have helped communities innovate and improve electric infrastructure.

“In addition to the climate and energy security benefits, the 21st century grid transformation holds incredible promise for rural economic development in states like Maine,” said Fortunat Mueller, co-founder of ReVision Energy.

He said this funding is unique in a number of ways.

“One is long-term debt, and it’s assumable debt, so that when MRRA buys this project from Diversified in six years, MRRA can take over the loan,” Mueller said. “That’s something that doesn’t exist in the commercial banking world, so for this project, it’s one of the ingredients that made this project possible.”

He said ReVision builds many solar projects with different financing mechanisms, but called this an important arrow in the quiver, especially for larger projects. The company now has close to a dozen solar projects in the pipeline in Maine and New Hampshire for towns, schools, waste water treatment plants and tribes.

“The interest in solar and generating your own electricity is almost bottomless,” Mueller said.

Maine has been a rough place to run a solar business or any energy business for the last eight years, he said, because the state hasn’t had an energy plan and has lacked leadership on energy.

“We’ve been swimming upstream basically, for almost a decade,” Mueller said. “But our business has grown 100-fold in spite of that because the technology keeps improving because the economics keep improving, and because the customer demand for clean energy is deep.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com