Gov.-elect Deval Patrick said Wednesday he wants to put greater emphasis on the state’s future energy needs and will create a new cabinet level energy secretary after he takes office in January. Patrick’s comments come as House Speaker Sal DiMasi, D-Boston, unveiled his own energy plans for the new legislative year. DiMasi’s plan includes setting a five-year energy reduction goal, creating a “green communities program” to encourage energy efficiency and giving $1,500 credits for taxpayers who buy hybrid or alternative fuel cars.

Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi will propose today the overhauling of key pieces of the state’s energy policy to reduce electricity demand and push communities to develop more energy-efficient and green projects, such as wind turbines.

It was one of Deval L. Patrick’s more memorable claims during his campaign: If the state could develop new industries based around advances in alternative energy, “the whole world would be our customer.” Now as he structures a new administration and its agenda before taking office next month, the governor-elect is facing the task of translating his big idea into green kilowatts and jobs, turning energy crises into economic opportunity.

Audra Parker, director of strategic planning of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said the controversy surrounding Cape Wind "shows that public involvement in siting is essential." In the absence of that, Parker said, sites are chosen by developers motivated solely by profit. Parker said the Alliance suggests four recommendations to Patrick -- take a closer look at alternative sites for Cape Wind, establish publicly-owned renewable energy projects, designate certain areas off-limits to offshore wind turbines and aggressively pursue deep-water projects.

Gov.-elect Deval Patrick’s working group on Energy and the Environment heard an eclectic mix of concerns at Northeastern University last night, from support for Cape Wind to calls for more money for state environmental programs. The ideas on energy policy ranged from the profound - vastly curbing greenhouse gases - to the offbeat: a Cambridge bicyclist proudly displayed the solar-powered lamp he designed for his backpack.

Susan Nickerson, the executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, will serve on the working group for the Energy and the Environment. Transportation working group members include Dan Wolf, the president and CEO of Cape Air, and Margo Fenn, the executive director of the Cape Cod Commission. Wendy Northcross, the CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, is on the Creative Economy working group.

Vinick said Patrick’s victory in the governor’s race was no more about the wind farm than was the re-election of Edward Kennedy, an ardent wind farm foe, to the U.S. Senate. He also added that, while the state does have a role to play in the project, the Minerals Management Service, a federal agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, leads the review process.

No Cape and Islands subject has impacted the governor’s race like the controversial proposal by Cape Wind to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

New England will need to add power plants capable of generating 4,300 megawatts, and $3.4 billion of additional transmission investment, by 2015 to avoid blackouts, the region’s grid operator says. The area will need 170 megawatts of new power before the summer of 2009 to assure adequate supplies, according to ISO New England Inc., the power grid and wholesale market operator that serves the region’s 14 million people........ If a 1,000 megawatt coal or nuclear power plant had been installed in 2005, buyers in the wholesale market would have saved $600 million in power costs, the report said.

Massachusetts is joining a race against other U.S. states for wind power development funding to build infrastructure necessary to keep innovation here, and reverse a track record of letting wind technologies drift out to the Midwest. In addition to playing catch-up, Massachusetts officials face roadblocks including coastal Cape residents who vocally oppose windmills messing up the Atlantic horizon, lack of industry presence, and a lack of infrastructure to support development. There’s also some gale force competition blowing in from Texas and Iowa where sweeping prairies and open spaces provide ideal conditions for wind power generation.

Among the issues the candidates disagreed on was the future of wind power in the Berkshires. Republican Matt Kinnaman noted that wind turbines have been “decried and resisted” across the state for good reason. He said the “monstrous contraptions” divide communities, and cost more to build than they recoup in power generation. The better solution would be to keep all energy costs low, he said, and that to that end, he would oppose any effort to raise the gasoline tax. Independent Dion Robbins-Zust said unequivocally that he supports wind power, and challenged Democrat Benjamin B. Downing to make a definitive statement. Downing chose to quote H.L. Mencken, that there is always a simple answer and that it is usually wrong. While saying he supports the controversial Cape Wind project off Cape Cod, he believes the proposals for the Berkshires “haven’t lived up to the promise,” which underscores the need for dialogue and community input in planning such development.

This is a transcript for Tuesday’s debate between Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and Republican challenger Kenneth Chase, moderated by NECN’s Chet Curtis. The debate marked the first time Kennedy had debated a campaign rival since 1994, when he sparred with Mitt Romney, the current governor of Massachusetts.

Under the agreement, ISO New England will project regional power needs three years in advance and hold annual auctions to buy power resources, including new and existing power plants. Incentives would encourage private operators to respond to power system emergencies, and operators that don't make extra capacity available would face penalties.

Patrick's nomination ensured the proposed Cape Wind project will become a major issue in the campaign leading up to the general election on Nov. 7. Patrick was the first gubernatorial candidate to support the wind farm, while the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, strongly opposes it.

As the population grows, so do demands on goods, services and food production. And underlying all of these is a growing need for energy. Can our current energy infrastructure handle the load? Mark Price, the New England regional Energy Star outreach manager for Conservation Services Group, doesn't think so. "In 25 to 50 years we aren't going to be able to sustain centralized energy generation and distribution," he said. In the future, there will need to be more locally generated energy, he said, such as from wind farms or photovoltaic farms.

He's looking to the Berkshires to show he is for renewable energy and wind power, and we don't have the political clout to put him in an awkward position," said Eleanor Tillinghast, of the group Green Berkshires, which opposes wind turbines.

The first in a series of articles on issues facing the next governor. With electricity prices close to the highest in the nation, Massachusetts is no friend to the energy consumer. It lies at the end of the energy pipeline, getting its oil by ship and natural gas from far away fields. But the next governor will have a chance to make a significant improvement in supply by bringing more power, cleanly and efficiently, to the state. Energy demand in Massachusetts is rising close to 2 percent each year and a growing queue of energy projects are proposed on land and offshore.

BOSTON --Trying to stave off power shortages and high electricity costs, Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday unveiled a plan to both reduce demand and increase supply in Massachusetts. Within the next month, Romney will require more efficient energy use in state buildings, increased use of biofuels in the state automobile fleet and the creation of a lottery in which prizes will be awarded to consumers who buy energy-efficient equipment.

``The problem we're having with all these wind farms is . . . they're proposing to put them in all the worst places," said Thomas W. French , assistant director of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. ``If they could do what the Russell Biomass plant did, which is to find a preexisting, historical industrial district, we'd be applauding them." As part of the ongoing state permitting process for the plant, French's division worked with its developers to reroute proposed power lines to reduce their impact on wildlife.

Among those ideas, he believes, are new solutions in alternative energies for future generations. That should not, however, include projects like the controversial Cape Wind offshore turbine project. "It's not a wind farm - it is a power plant, right in the middle of Nantucket Sound, and we should pass it on to future generations the way it is now," he said. "But there is a right way to do things, and not this way, which is really nothing more than a giveaway to a private developer for absolutely nothing. It is important to me that Nantucket Sound has been designated an ocean sanctuary by Massachusetts and that should be honored and respected - and it should be off-limits."