Old Orchard Beach to install public pay car charging stations

Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay

Liz Gotthelf, Publisher•

OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The town plans to install electric charging pay stations along First Street near the Old Orchard Beach Chamber of Commerce building, with the intention to move them in the future once the Chamber embarks on a electric pay station plan of its own on Chamber property.

A few weeks ago, the town approved the purchase of charging stations behind Town Hall, which will be used to provide power for two recently acquired electric town vehicles.

On Tuesday night, the Town Council approved the purchase of two additional electric charging stations. These charging stations will be installed on First Street to provide power on a pay per charge basis to members of the general public. Each charging station can accommodate two vehicles, and the two stations will create four charging spots on street side parking near the Chamber of Commerce building.

The First Street charging stations will cost the town about $24,000, a price that has been significantly reduced through subsidies available from Efficiency Maine and Central Maine Power. Availability of the funding is limited, said Town Manager Larry Mead, and the town needed to “grab the opportunity” while the money was still available.

The one complication in the plan is that installing town charging stations along First Street will block access to the future site of a project by the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has proposed, on its property, to redevelop an empty lot next to the chamber building into an eight-space electric car charging lot. The proposed Chamber lot would create revenue for the Chamber, while the town charging spaces would create revenue for the town.

Mead said the town could install the charging stations on First Street, and in the future, when the Chamber was ready to create its charging lot, the town could relocate its charging stations to another town property or it could partner with the Chamber and move the town charging stations onto Chamber property.

Old Orchard Beach Chamber Executive Director Kim Howard said the Chamber had proposed the car-charging lot a few years ago, but had postponed it when the pandemic hit and revenue streams were down.

“It’s a bit of a conundrum,” said Chamber Board Chief Finance Officer Mike Halle. He said the Chamber had already spent money for preliminary engineering work for the proposed eight space charging area, which was to be phase three of a renewable energy initiative. The Chamber had solar panels installed on the roof of the chamber building with the intention of creating excess power to sell at electric car charging stations.

“(It would be) a perfect scenario where you have renewable energy going directly into electric cars parked next door. If we don’t do that, we’re essentially going to be producing energy that is just given away on the grid because it can’t be sold,” he said.

Mead assured Howard and Halle that it was “perfectly reasonable” to move the charging stations. The town charging stations needed to go on First Street, he said, because that was the area identified by Central Maine Power and Revision Energy, the local installer, for the grant money. He described the situation as a "win/win," with the town able to get subsidies to cover the cost of electric charging stations, which could be moved in the future to accommodate the Chamber's plan for the abutting property.

Howard said she could agree to the arrangement if she could get in writing that the town would be willing to move the chargers, as the current town manager will soon be retiring and a new person might not now the history of the arrangement.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.