2,400-panel solar array coming to Gorham farm
GORHAM — A new solar project is taking root on Fort Hill Road, where 2,400 panels will soon rise from a western field of Martin-Place Farm. The 7-acre array, approved this week by the town’s planning board, marks the latest step in Maine’s steady shift toward renewable energy and offers a financial lifeline to a working farm contending with rising costs.
Perennial Renewables, a Hallowell-based development and consulting firm, has signed a 30-year lease with landowner Norman Martin for a 10-acre portion of his roughly 150-acre property. The project, dubbed Perennial Gorham Solar, will generate 1 megawatt of electricity — enough to power approximately 200 homes — under a contract with Central Maine Power.
Company partner Nick Lacasse said the $3 million development is scheduled to break ground in the spring, with a target of coming online by the end of 2027. It will join a 30-acre solar farm already operating further down Fort Hill Road, built several years ago by Gorham Solar.
“This site is naturally buffered by the topography of the farm itself,” Lacasse said, noting that the panels will sit tucked behind the farmstead, invisible from the road. Access will come via a new 1,700-foot drive, and no residential properties directly abut the parcel.
For Martin, the agreement provides a new revenue stream as property taxes climb. The leased land, he said, isn’t suited for high-value crops like vegetables, making it a practical candidate for solar without taking prime agricultural ground out of production. Lacasse estimated the project will contribute $20,000 to $25,000 annually to Gorham’s tax base.
The development reflects a broader trend. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows solar accounted for nearly 18% of Maine’s electricity generation in 2025, a figure that has climbed steadily as the state pursues its clean energy targets. Perennial Renewables, which has focused much of its work in Kennebec County until now, views the Gorham project as part of its expansion across southern Maine.
Construction will unfold over the coming months on a landscape that has long defined this corner of town. Martin-Place Farm has operated for generations, its fields and woodlots a familiar sight to anyone traveling Fort Hill Road. Soon, tucked out of view behind the barns and ridges, a quiet new harvest will begin — one measured not in bushels, but in kilowatt-hours.
