Solar panels have been popping up around the Boothbay peninsula this year, and the Tugboat Inn and Boothbay Harbor Inn are the latest hotels to be outfitted with this trendy technology.

But trendy is not what it's all about as far as the folks at GridSolar are concerned. The purpose of GridSolar's Boothbay Pilot Project is to counteract the energy needs during summer's hottest days, without having to undergo an $18 million powerline upgrade from Central Maine Power.

Josh Baston, a project manager from ReVision Energy, spent two weeks outfitting the Boothbay Harbor Inn and Tugboat Inn. He said the solar panels projects have been received pretty well.

“People are pretty receptive and it kind of makes intuitive sense to them because Boothbay is at the end of a long peninsula and it's tough to upgrade the power distribution down here. The local generation could be a real asset,” Baston said.

Although the hotels will be shut down during the winter months, the panels will be producing energy back into the power grid. That energy will turn into credits, which both reduces the electricity bill and the hotel's demand for power in the summer.

ReVision Energy is just one of the multiple companies that was awarded a bid from GridSolar to set up the participating commercial properties and municipal buildings in the Boothbay region with solar power and energy efficient systems. 

Round one of Gridsolar's Boothbay Pilot Project has wrapped up for the season, and round two is slated for next spring.