Massachusetts would meet at least 20 percent of its energy needs by 2020 with renewable energy such as wind, hydroelectric and solar under sweeping legislation proposed Thursday by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. Rep. DiMasi was joined by Gov. Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Senate leaders as he rolled out the legislation, which is expected to be approved by the House next Thursday. The bill, which was subject to negotiations for 11 months, would require the state to increase its use of renewable energy by five times what it is now.

While paper mills close and Cabletron spins off its remnants out of state, power plants from the Seacoast to Whitefield enjoy the perks of a poorly understood, $100-million subsidy program just for energy producers. It has a bureaucratic name: the forward capacity market. ...An unidentified 600-megawatt, gas-fired power plant project somewhere in Rockingham County is blocked behind half a dozen North Country renewable energy projects in the ISO-New England regulatory queue. The waiting list policy is first-come, first-served. A plant like that would typically pay its host community $4 million or more in property taxes, with few smokestack emissions. But those wind- and wood-fired projects at the front of the line are all in limbo. The Public Service power lines in the region are too small. Most of the players can't even bid into the upcoming ISO auction, because yet-to-be-built plants have to ante millions of dollars as a sort of performance bond. And the ISO doesn't make forward capacity payments for transmission line upgrades.

Quincy is taking the first steps to address the growing possibility of wind power turbines built within city limits, following the announcement by a local construction company that it plans to build a wind turbine on its own property and use the energy itself. ...While the time is right for a city ordinance, said Dave Murphy, the city's chief of operations, it's not yet time to encourage large-scale development of wind power because the city doesn't have a site. The city has been measuring wind speed at the police station on Sea Street, and at a privately owned radio tower inland at Quarry Hills, to assess the feasibility for sites, Murphy said.

Members of a Cape Cod Commission subcommittee voted unanimously today to recommend that the full commission turn down Cape Wind's application to bring its transmission cables ashore in Yarmouth to connect with a substation in Barnstable. Today's vote on "procedural grounds without prejudice" was based on insufficient information about the cabling aspect of the project, according to subcommittee members.

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Multiple reports and studies, especially those published in the last year, suggest the United States, specifically the East Coast, has great potential for offshore wind. The politicized debate over whether to develop wind power offshore has dragged on since the late 1990s, when the first project was proposed in Cape Cod, Mass., off the Nantucket Sound. Since then there have been several other proposals, none of which has been completely approved.

Legislators in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic passed a number of bills applying to the electric power industry, with several states committing to emissions reductions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and other states making broad organizational changes to their regulatory processes.

The shallow water just miles from the Rehoboth Beach shoreline could be the site of the country's first offshore wind farm -- but it will not be the only one, as similar projects are racing forward in Massachusetts and New York, experts say.

The Historic District Commission approved a wind turbine for private use on Nantucket at its weekly meeting last night

A massive bill by the House speaker to promote conservation and renewable energy is stirring up a whirlwind of opposition among consumer groups, environmentalists and utilities. While some critics say the 360-page proposal does not go far enough in creating incentives, others say it would undermine conservation and clean energy efforts already under way in Massachusetts. David Guarino, a spokesman for Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, said yesterday that Mr. DiMasi expects "robust debate" over the legislation, and it remains his top priority.

Long a B-list issue on Beacon Hill, energy - both the state's response to rising prices and growing worries about global warming - is quickly elbowing its way to the top of the Statehouse to-do list. Just this week, state regulators gave their environmental blessing to a 130-turbine windmill farm in Nantucket Sound and on Monday, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi makes a personal appeal to fellow lawmakers on behalf of his massive energy bill. Not to be outdone, Gov. Deval Patrick - who highlighted a call for alternative energy production in his campaign - has ramped up his rhetoric as he crafts his own energy bill. At stake, according to lawmakers, advocates and industry representatives, is not only the state's energy independence but its economic future.

FAIRHAVEN - The members of WindWise Fairhaven say they're not against wind power - they just don't want a windmill near their bike path. Members of the citizen's group and a selectman candidate voiced concerns about wind turbines to about 20 citizens at a meeting in the Fire Station last night. "I, too, am worried about global warming. I saw Al Gore's movie. But we need to look into this more. I have a lot of concerns," said selectman candidate Ann Ponichtera DeNardis. The group is concerned about the impact that two industrial turbines would have on the Little Bay Area.

Massachusetts House leaders today are to unveil plans for steering the state away from reliance on fossil fuels and toward embracing renewable energy and alternative fuels. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi will file legislation offering financial incentives to cities and towns to rapidly approve permits for the building of so-called "clean" energy generation facilities. It also establishes various programs to make it financially palatable for homeowners to invest in expensive energy efficient products. Haverhill Democrat Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, the chairman of the House Telecommunications and Energy Committee, helped draft the sweeping proposal, called "The Green Communities Act of 2007." He said it represents a dramatic change in the state's energy policy.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick reaffirmed his support for what he called the “complicated” Cape Wind energy project yesterday, saying he wants to create jobs in the Bay State by encouraging growth of the clean-energy industry.

Massachusetts power plant owners will have to pay a penalty for every pound of emissions that contribute to global warming under an agreement signed by Governor Deval Patrick yesterday that is expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for an ambitious energy conservation and renewable energy program. Patrick agreed to rejoin the seven-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which aims to gradually reduce the production of greenhouse gases in the Northeast. Reversing his predecessor Mitt Romney, who pulled out of the pact over concerns that the emissions fee would drive up the already-high price of electricity, Patrick predicted that electricity costs would ultimately drop because the penalties would generate up to $125 million a year to spend on conservation.

Deep-water wind farms will top the agenda when U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., leads a congressional delegation to Germany this spring. The trip will involve discussions of a variety of energy issues, said Delahunt, chairman of the bipartisan study group that includes current and former members of Congress. But of particular interest to Delahunt, who represents Cape Cod and the Islands, are German renewable energy companies - including one involved in building a test deep-water wind farm off the German coast in the North Sea. Some of the companies in this project ‘’are beginning to talk about a need for American subsidiaries,'’ Delahunt said. ‘’What better place than Massachusetts for this kind of foreign investment? Wind is to the Northeast, what oil is to Saudi Arabia,'’ he said.

“The governor’s goal is to unify the energy and environmental objectives,” Mr. Bowles said, acknowledging that energy development has traditionally been viewed as inherently threatening to the environment. Massachusetts, he said, may be in a unique position to develop an alternative energy industry because of the availability of venture capital, the brain trust of the state’s engineering and technical universities, and a talented work force. Mr. Patrick, who has said he believes clean energy advancements could make the world the state’s customer, has in Mr. Bowles someone who has bought into that concept. “Clean energy can be a real economic development opportunity for our state,” he said, and part of his job will be encouraging wind farms, solar companies, fuel cell technology and advanced energy conservation programs.

A string of legislation being introduced in the new legislature could impact Cape-wide efforts to protect the environment and promote the development and use of clean energy. The bills mirror a stated commitment by Gov. Deval Patrick to place the environment and energy as a top priority for the new administration.

In a letter to Governor-elect Deval Patrick, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound has outlined a five-point energy plan for the state. The first of those five points is the selection of an alternative site for Cape Wind Associates’ proposal to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

Gov.-elect Deval Patrick yesterday appointed cabinet chiefs on the environment and economy who now face the the tall order of keeping his campaign promises to make housing more affordable and realign state policy toward wind power and other sources of renewable energy. But political opponents wasted no time yesterday pouncing on the choice of Mass Inc. president Ian Bowles for secretary of energy and environmental affairs, labeling him an insider who will seek to satisfy the state’s environmental lobby.

The state is looking to spend tens of millions of dollars to build giant wind turbines on the grounds of prisons, mental hospitals, community colleges and other public agencies as a way to save money and promote clean energy. Officials have already made site visits to determine the feasibility of turbines generating electricity at state facilities that consume a lot of energy, said John Chapman, assistant secretary of economic development within the Romney administration.