ME — State Policy Updated 2026-07-17

Maine

Broad state incentives that can apply to technology projects Data-center-specific incentives Statewide Local actions

1) Incentive programs

Broad state incentives that can apply to technology projects

  • Dirigo Business Incentives: Maine’s current business-incentive program provides eligible certified businesses with a capital-investment credit for qualifying property placed in service after December 31, 2024, and a $2,000 qualified-employee training credit; before the 2026 data-center change, eligible sectors included “software publishing, data processing and computer design services.” Maine DECD, current as of 2026-07-17
  • PTDZ / ETIF closed to new applications: The Pine Tree Development Zone (PTDZ) and Employment Tax Increment Financing (ETIF) programs closed to new applications on December 31, 2024, so new data-center projects cannot enter those legacy programs. Maine DECD, current as of 2026-07-17
  • BETE / BETR baseline: Maine Revenue Services describes BETE as a 100% property-tax exemption for eligible business equipment first subject to Maine tax on or after April 1, 2008, while BETR remains a reimbursement program for qualifying older property and some retail property. Maine Revenue Services, current as of 2026-07-17
  • Municipal Tax Increment Financing (TIF): Maine still lists municipal TIF as a development-finance tool that lets municipalities use incremental property taxes from a development to finance public or private project costs; LD 713 does not itself repeal municipal TIF authority for data centers. Maine DECD, current as of 2026-07-17
  • 2026 restriction on incentives: LD 713 was signed April 23, 2026 and chaptered as Public Law 2025, chapter 768; for data centers that begin operations on or after August 1, 2026, it excludes data-center property from BETE and excludes services performed at a data center from the Dirigo eligible-sector language. Maine Legislature, 2026-04-23; Maine Public Law 2025, c. 768, 2026-04-23
  • Required incentive study: Public Law 2025, chapter 768 directs DECD to study financial incentives that data centers may still benefit from under current law and submit a report, including suggested legislation, to the taxation committee by November 4, 2026. Maine Public Law 2025, c. 768, 2026-04-23

Data-center-specific incentives

  • No active data-center-specific sales-tax exemption was identified in current Maine law. Earlier data-center sales-tax bills did not become law: LD 1259 (2011), “An Act To Encourage Computer Data Center Development,” was disposed of as ought-not-to-pass on May 17, 2011, and LD 1722 (2018), “An Act To Encourage Computer Data Center Development by Providing a Sales Tax Refund or Exemption,” was disposed of as ought-not-to-pass on March 22, 2018. Maine Legislature, 2011-05-17; Maine Legislature, 2018-03-22
  • Net 2026 direction: Maine enacted no new data-center incentive before the 132nd Legislature adjourned sine die on April 29, 2026; the enacted tax bill instead narrows access to BETE and Dirigo and orders a study of remaining subsidies. Maine Legislature, 2026-04-29; Maine Public Law 2025, c. 768, 2026-04-23

2) Restrictions and moratoriums

Statewide

  • LD 307 passed but did not become law: LD 307, “An Act to Establish the Maine Data Center Coordination Council and Place a Temporary Limitation on Certain Data Centers,” would have paused state and municipal permitting for data centers with loads of 20 MW or more until November 1, 2027, but Governor Mills vetoed it on April 24, 2026 and the Legislature sustained the veto on April 29, 2026. Governor Janet Mills, 2026-04-24; Maine Legislature, 2026-04-29
  • Executive-order substitute: On April 29, 2026, Governor Mills created the Maine Data Center Advisory Council and charged it to recommend policies by January 29, 2027 on ratepayer protection, grid reliability, environmental impacts, and responsible economic development. The council met on June 3, June 23, and July 9; as of July 17 it had not issued final recommendations, and its community and economic development meeting was scheduled for August 13. Governor Janet Mills, 2026-04-29; Maine Department of Energy Resources, current as of 2026-07-17

Local actions

  • Six enacted moratoriums: By June 30, Bangor, Brunswick, Gorham, Sanford, Scarborough, and Westbrook had adopted temporary data-center moratoriums. Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-30
  • Bangor: The City Council unanimously enacted a 180-day moratorium on April 13 to study water, electricity, infrastructure, environmental, and neighboring-property impacts. Bangor Daily News, 2026-04-13
  • Sanford: The City Council unanimously enacted an emergency 91-day moratorium on May 19, pausing permits until August 12 for the proposed Sanford Woods Industrial and Technical Campus while a task force develops standards for grid and ratepayer protection, siting, noise, generators, water use, fiscal transparency, decommissioning, and monitoring. Portland Press Herald, 2026-05-19; Sanford Springvale News, 2026-05-22
  • Westbrook: The City Council unanimously approved a 180-day moratorium on June 1 while the city studies energy, water, noise, light, air-quality, visual, and financial impacts. Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-01
  • Brunswick and Scarborough: Both councils unanimously adopted 180-day moratoriums in early June; Brunswick’s applies to facilities demanding at least 1 MW, while Scarborough made its pause retroactive to April 1 and halted an incomplete application for a 52-acre Scarborough Technology Park data center. Spectrum News Maine, 2026-06-08; Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-03
  • Gorham: The Town Council voted 7-0 on June 2 for a 180-day moratorium; officials reported no pending local proposal and said the pause would allow development of specific standards. Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-04
  • Brewer zoning limits: On April 28, Brewer adopted tiered land-use amendments that permit sub-20-MW data centers in specified districts subject to performance standards, prohibit facilities at 20 MW or more, set a target power-usage effectiveness of 1.6 or below for larger permitted tiers, and require water-use disclosure or study. This is a permanent zoning framework, not a moratorium. City of Brewer City Council minutes, 2026-04-28; City of Brewer City Council agenda, 2026-04-28
  • Biddeford proposal pending: On June 2, the City Council voted 8-1 to send amendments to the planning board that would define data centers without making them a permitted use, effectively prohibiting them in every zoning district if ultimately enacted; the referral was not itself final adoption. Spectrum News Maine, 2026-06-04
  • North Berwick and Wells proposals pending: North Berwick chose not to impose a moratorium and instead planned a November referendum on a local ban, with ordinance language due September 1. Wells likewise prepared a proposed 180-day moratorium for a November vote rather than adopting it immediately. Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-30; Town of Wells draft ordinance, 2026-07-07; Portsmouth Herald, 2026-07-10
  • Eastport citizen ordinances pending: Residents submitted two initiated ordinances on June 15—one to prohibit large-scale data centers and another to require voter approval for certain large developments and pollutant or thermal discharges. The City Council scheduled an August 5 public hearing; neither proposal was law as of July 17. Quoddy Tides, 2026-07-10; City of Eastport, 2026-07-13

3) Local governance, permitting, and preemption

4) Legislative and regulatory activity, 2024-2026

  • LD 912 / Public Law 2025, chapter 85: Maine amended Title 35-A section 102 in 2025 to define “data center” for utility-law purposes and limit a private-distribution exception when more than 25% of nameplate capacity serves data centers. Maine Legislature, 2025-05-23
  • LD 713 / Public Law 2025, chapter 768: Signed April 23, 2026, LD 713 is the principal enacted 2026 data-center law; it restricts BETE and Dirigo access for data centers beginning operations on or after August 1, 2026 and requires DECD’s November 4 incentive study. Maine Legislature, 2026-04-23; Maine Public Law 2025, c. 768, 2026-04-23
  • LD 307: The statewide 20-MW moratorium and coordination-council bill was vetoed and the veto sustained, leaving no statewide data-center moratorium in effect as of July 17. Maine Legislature, 2026-04-29
  • 2026 session outcome: Review of the final bill histories after the Legislature’s April 29 sine-die adjournment identified LD 713 as the enacted data-center measure and LD 307 as the vetoed measure; LD 912’s utility-law change was enacted in 2025, not the 2026 session. Maine Legislature, 2026-04-29; Maine Legislature, 2026-04-23; Maine Legislature, 2025-05-23
  • PUC proceeding remains unresolved: Maine PUC Docket 2026-00142 remained open on July 17 with nine filings. CMP, Versant, the consumer-owned utilities, and two public-interest organizations filed responses on June 26; a July 2 protective order covered confidential material in Versant’s response, but the Commission had issued no final tariff or cost-allocation ruling. Maine PUC Docket 2026-00142, current as of 2026-07-17; Maine PUC protective order, 2026-07-02

5) Notable projects and operators in Maine

  • FirstLight (Brunswick): FirstLight completed a 2025 expansion of its Brunswick data center, adding floor space, power capacity, redundant generators, and UPS units; the renovation doubled power capacity at the former NATO Command and Control Center site. PR Newswire / FirstLight, 2025-02-04
  • Green 4 Maine / Loring LiquidCool (Limestone): The Loring project was still prospective in March 2026; reporting identified a 115,000-square-foot leased warehouse, 2 MW already available, a Versant will-serve agreement for 24 MW, possible expansion to 50 MW, and financing still being finalized. The County, 2026-03-10
  • Jay / former Androscoggin Mill — halted: The project was described in April as a $550 million redevelopment expected to create more than 800 construction jobs and at least 100 permanent jobs. On June 11-12, however, Sentinel Data Centers said it no longer intended to proceed, the planned July groundbreaking was canceled, and site owner JGT2 Redevelopment said it would seek another developer; the project was therefore on hold as of July 17. Governor Janet Mills, 2026-04-24; Maine Public, 2026-06-12; Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-11
  • Sanford Woods: The developer described a roughly 1,060-acre, approximately $2.16 billion combined campus with a 100-300-MW data center, a 300-MW fuel-cell power plant initially using natural gas and intended to transition to hydrogen within five years, plus greenhouse and cold-storage uses; those are proposal-stage claims, and the project was paused by Sanford’s moratorium through August 12. Sanford Springvale News, 2026-02-27; Portland Press Herald, 2026-05-19
  • Western Passage / Eastport — preliminary permit stage: DeepGreen submitted a February preliminary-permit application for a tidal-energy-powered subsea data-center concept and amended it on June 8, reducing the first phase from 15 MW to 1-5 MW and the second from 51 MW to 10-15 MW. The requested two-year FERC preliminary permit would authorize study, not construction, and Passamaquoddy officials said the tribe was not a project partner. FERC eLibrary, 2026-06-08; Quoddy Tides, 2026-07-10
  • Scarborough Technology Park: Scarborough’s retroactive moratorium halted an incomplete application for a data-center development on 52 acres in the technology park. Portland Press Herald, 2026-06-03
  • Nautilus Data Technologies (Millinocket): The proposed $300 million, 60-MW data center at the former Great Northern Paper mill site was canceled in 2025 after the developer could not secure a sufficient power plan and customer commitments. Bangor Daily News, 2025-04-09
  • Lewiston / Bates Mill No. 3: Lewiston councilors unanimously rejected the proposed Bates Mill AI data center in December 2025 after organized public opposition and criticism of the proposed 20-year TIF/credit-enhancement structure. Maine Public, 2025-12-17
  • Wiscasset: Wiscasset’s 2025 concept-stage discussions involved a possible $5 billion AI hyperscale facility at Old Ferry Road with preliminary claims of 150-200 tech jobs and thousands of construction jobs, but the town had not identified a formal proposal in the sources reviewed. Lincoln County News, 2025-09-18

6) Notes and gaps