The debate over wind power soon will be blowing into additional Maine towns. First Wind, the Massachusetts company behind Maine's two largest wind energy facilities, plans to file applications with the state late this year or early next year for a facility with roughly 30 turbines in the southern Aroostook County town of Oakfield. The company also is moving forward with plans for projects in Rumford in western Maine as well as on Grand Manan Island just across the Canadian border.

Wind power advocates from across Maine talked about economic and environmental impact and turbine noise during a panel forum Thursday night at Black Mountain Ski Lodge. ...Kearney and Shaw, who live near the Mars Hill wind farm, addressed noise and visual issues associated with wind turbines. "My family lives 3,000 feet from the turbines on the east side of the mountain," Kearney said. "There's no doubt we do hear noise, but we don't focus on it. ...It sounds like a low-flying jet aircraft or a waterfall. You put these big, beautiful 100-foot blades up there and you have to hear something."

A proposed 120-metre wind turbine would knock 50 per cent off the value of thousands of nearby homes, an action group claims. Save Our Skyline (SOS) was formed in response to a planned turbine taller than Wakefield Cathedral at Coca Cola's warehouse at Wakefield 41 Industrial Park. SOS claims 3,800 homes within a mile radius would see 54 per cent knocked of their value by the turbine. The information comes from a recent study by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

The anemometers, which measure wind speed, were installed by the Cape Neddick-based Ra Power Solutions company as part of a yearlong study to determine if a commercial wind farm would be viable there. If it is, a small-scale "niche" wind farm consisting of up to 300-foot high turbines could be constructed. It would be the first commercial wind farm in southern Maine, according to Dean Scontras, a former congressional candidate and vice president of business development for the company.

Goldman Sachs on Tuesday slapped sell ratings on the two largest publicly traded U.S. solar power firms, with the broker flagging the possibility of oversupply as overseas subsidies dry up in the face of the global economic meltdown. Goldman analyst Michael Molnar forecast "strong headwinds for valuation" as he downgraded shares of First Solar (FSLR) to conviction sell from buy and SunPower (SPWRA) to sell from buy.

A month into its road construction for the 44-turbine Kibby Wind Power project north of Eustis, TransCanada Energy Corp. is holding a press conference on Thursday morning to announce a conservation agreement it's reached against developing 1,100 acres of ridgeline surrounding the wind project area and, additionally, that it will donate $500,000 towards the land conservation along the Grafton Loop Trail.

With two windmill projects tentatively planned for the River Valley area, the Natural Resources Council of Maine with the River Valley Growth Council, decided to hold a panel discussion on wind power. ...With two windmill projects tentatively planned for the River Valley area, the Natural Resources Council of Maine with the River Valley Growth Council, decided to hold a panel discussion on wind power.

Wiscasset is being considered for the largest energy development proposal - and potentially the largest development project of any kind - in the history of the state. A Toronto entrepreneur who has developed Canadian wind farms has floated the idea of building a massive $2 billion underground hydropower station at the old Maine Yankee nuclear power station site. The project would be one of the first of its kind anywhere. The proposal raises questions about impacts on the Back River and groundwater, and it would use as much energy as it creates.

In newspaper advertisements, ApCo says customers who sign up are "investing in a future of energy that's both clean and green." ...But ApCo has already agreed to buy the green power. ApCo contracted for 75 megawatts of energy from the Camp Grove Wind Farm in central Illinois and 100 megawatts from the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in western Indiana. ApCo already buys power from Summersville Hydro in West Virginia, and has plans to buy from the Beech Ridge Wind Energy project in Greenbrier County when it is finished. So what's the benefit if ApCo customers sign up, given that the company's already buying the green power?

A group of Fort Kent residents is proposing a moratorium on industrial wind turbines within town limits until local officials can develop ordinances governing the enormous structures. The group has gathered roughly 220 signatures on a petition seeking a 180-day moratorium on construction of commercial wind power facilities as well as processing of any applications. The petition would allow the Town Council to extend the moratorium or cancel it once Fort Kent's zoning and land-use ordinances have been amended to address wind power facilities.

As First Wind of Massachusetts finishes building a wind farm on Stetson Mountain and prepares applications for another on Rollins Mountain, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo continues probing allegations that the company dealt improperly with public officials in upstate New York. Begun in July, Cuomo's investigation probes whether First Wind and another company based in Connecticut improperly sought or obtained land-use agreements with residents and public officials; whether public officials received improper benefits to influence their actions; and whether they entered into anti-competitive agreements or practices.

"My fear is that the aesthetics, the whole feel of the area and the views of the ridge, I really feel that this will be gone soon," Wotton said. "That's my biggest fear." That's why Wooton is a member of the newly formed Friends of Rollins Ridge group, an organization of about a dozen town residents that is investigating, and likely will oppose, a proposed $120 million wind farm that, if approved, will go on sites in Burlington, Lee, Lincoln and Winn, including Rollins Mountain.

Developers of a proposed wind power project sweetened the pot this week by offering to provide a significant amount of free electricity to every house and seasonal home in town year-round. To get it, the town must decide on amending its comprehensive plan and the new zoning ordinance to allow wind power facilities on town hills by year's end, according to a Monday letter to selectmen from Brunswick-based Independence Wind LLC principals Angus King and Rob Gardiner.

Officials with the Maine Power Connection wrapped up a weeklong tour of Aroostook County on Thursday morning, addressing business leaders, legislators and community members about a proposal to build a new $625 million transmission line from central Maine to connect northern Maine to the New England electric grid. The project would bring wind turbine projects online and close a 25-mile gap between the Maine Public Service system lines in Houlton and the Maine Electric Power Co. ..."Northern Maine customers will be held harmless," he stressed. "Northern Maine delivery rates can't go up - that is our goal. If that doesn't happen, this project is a no-go."

Denouncing a proposed $45 million Minnesota Power rate hike as "exorbitant," Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson on Friday encouraged the Duluth utility's customers to attend public hearings and make their opposition known. "Families and small business are struggling to make ends meet in the face of rising prices for energy, health care, gas, food and a troubled economy," Swanson said in a news release, which characterized the utility's proposal as unnecessary.

New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers are expected to focus on a regional approach to energy when they begin their annual meeting Tuesday in Bar Harbor, Maine. With an energy-hungry New England market and the five eastern provinces all looking to export new sources of energy, the premiers say maintaining good cross-border relations is crucial. "We'll be able to talk about the commonalities and that's around energy efficiency, around renewable types of energy," said Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald.

Town officials are looking into developing an ordinance that will regulate wind turbines. The Planning Board will present a draft proposal to selectmen for consideration. Code Enforcement Officer Bob St. Pierre said the town manager asked him to see how other communities in the area were addressing wind turbines. "I got back to the Planning Board and Tim Coitrone spent some time writing up a draft that could be considered at a later date by the town if we wanted a windmill ordinance," St. Pierre said.

The footnote addresses a required Planning Board permit to locate wind-energy facilities in the mountain district. It states that wind-power facility use would be allowed if town planners received a Maine Department of Environmental Protection development permit. "In the absence of a DEP site location of development permit for the applicable use, a permit must be obtained from the (Roxbury) Planning Board for this site," the footnote states. At previous meetings, that has been interpreted to mean wind-power developers could bypass the state agency's permitting process.

Delays concerning creation of a mountain zoning district to allow wind power facilities on town hills have yet to critically affect wind power developers. The latest delay came at Tuesday night's selectmen's meeting when Chairman Mark Touchette resigned, effective as of the board's Sept. 23 meeting. Touchette resigned to care for his 17-year-old son ...His decision leaves Independence Wind LLC developers Angus King and Robert Gardiner idling in the wind, because Roxbury has just one selectman.

Lee will join three other towns in hiring a Bangor-based law firm to handle pending tax-break negotiations for a proposed $120 million wind farm, officials said Tuesday. With only seven residents attending, the Board of Selectmen agreed during a special town meeting Monday night to hire Eaton Peabody of Bangor to represent Lee in talks with Evergreen Wind Power LLC regarding its Rollins Mountain wind farm. There was no dissent.