Every town has one—that municipal project that desperately needs to get done, but somehow never quite makes it to the top of the list. For Brooksville, a small coastal town in Maine, it was their salt shed. If you've ever driven on Maine roads in February, you know that salt is a staple for winter road safety. And a salt shed is necessary to protect it all from the winter elements.

By partnering with Ampion, the town of Brooksville discovered a way to help residents and businesses save money on their electric bills and fund the salt shed roof, a project that has been on the "someday" list for years.

And the results were impressive!

• Over 100 Brooksville residents and businesses signed up for Community Solar.
• These community members are saving up to 15% on electricity costs, saving $28,500 collectively per year.
• For each new sign-up, Ampion made a fixed donation for the salt shed roof project, amounting to $5,400.
• Solar panels installed on roofs: Zero.
• Costs for residents to join? Also zero.

John Gray, a Brooksville selectman, summed it up perfectly: "This partnership gave us a creative way to fund the long-awaited salt shed roof project while delivering direct savings to our residents. When Ampion approached us with this model, we saw an opportunity to accomplish two goals at once. The response from the community has been tremendous."

It was, in fact, tremendous. Even restaurant favorites Bagaduce Lunch and Lucy Q's jumped on board. This partnership isn't just about one salt shed in one small Maine town. It's about finding creative solutions that work for real communities with real budgets.

To support the initiative's success, Ampion provided outreach resources including a custom landing page for the campaign, direct mail materials, and social media content. Local Ampion staff were also available in person to help residents get started.

Nate Owen, Ampion's CEO & Founder (and a Mainer himself) said: "Ampion is proud to support local communities like Brooksville while providing meaningful electric bill savings to households," said Nate Owen, CEO & Founder of Ampion. "As energy prices fluctuate, community solar offers financial relief with no upfront costs or installation required. The fact that we can simultaneously help fund important municipal projects makes these partnerships especially rewarding."

Residents and businesses interested in learning more about the partnership can visit ampion.net/brooksville.

What Is Community Solar? It’s a Maine program that involves solar panels from local solar farms, but not on anyone's roof. Mainers subscribe to a share of a local solar farm's production based on their own electricity usage. That energy produced by your share of the solar farm appears on your electric bill in the form of solar credits. Subscribers are billed for their solar credits at a fixed 15% discount, saving them money. Think of it as a “thank you” for supporting local energy in Maine.