A 52-year-old contract worker at a solar farm in Hancock County died Thursday of an unspecified “medical event,” state police said Friday.

Edwin Kendall Jones, of Washington, was working at the Nexamp solar site in Surry.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed Friday that the autopsy had been completed but did not provide the details of the results.

Surry fire Chief Bryan McLellan said Friday morning that firefighters were first on the scene Thursday. He said a co-worker who administered CPR said Jones had been electrocuted.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified and is investigating.

Nexamp spokesman Keith Hevenor said Jones was an employee of a third-party contractor.

“At this time, the cause of death is still under investigation and we are working closely with authorities to determine what happened,” he said.

Surry Solar, where Jones died, is a 7.4 megawatt solar array on 18 acres that features 15,592 modules on a tracker mounting system, according to Nexamp. It is located on Surry Road. 

Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, said she texted colleagues to ask if an electrocution has ever occurred at a solar array in Maine. “No one is aware of this instance before,” she said.

Solar energy workers are exposed to potential electrical hazards at work, “which makes them more vulnerable to the danger of electrocution and arc flash hazards,” OSHA said. Workers may be exposed to electric shocks and burns when hooking up the solar panels to an electric circuit, OSHA says.

Twenty-three workers were killed in Maine in 2022 and none died from electrocution, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In April, a technician for Consolidated Communications was injured by an electric shock from a wire in Biddeford but survived.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that 23 fatal occupational injuries were reported in Maine in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. None were caused by electrocution.