A goal to make Maine a regional leader in wind power by developing 2,000 megawatts of capacity by 2015 may require more than just regulatory changes. Gov. John E. Baldacci's task force on wind power submitted a final report this week, calling for more than half the state to be identified as expedited permitting areas where a streamlined regulatory process would be used for wind power projects. If the goals of the report are met, between 1,000 and 2,000 wind turbines, each 400 feet tall, could be placed on Maine's landscape by 2020, enough to generate 3,000 megawatts of clean energy. ...Mitch Tannenbaum, deputy general counsel for the Maine Public Utilities Commission, said transmission capacity is something that will have to be addressed as 2,000 to 3,000 megawatts of generation capacity is added.

Governor John E. Baldacci today received the final report of the Wind Power Task Force. The Governor created the task force by Executive Order last May and charged the group with reviewing the regulations that affect the development of wind power projects and recommend any changes that would assure that Maine has a balanced, efficient and appropriate regulatory framework for evaluating proposed projects. ..."Maine's natural resources are second to none," said the Governor. "There is tremendous potential for Maine to become a leader in clean, renewable energy - wind, wood and new technologies like tidal power are just a few."

A high-level state task force that has drafted a plan to make Maine a leader in wind power is presenting its report to Gov. John Baldacci at the State House today. ...The task force also is recommending that most of the state be included in a new zone in which wind turbines proposals would receive expedited regulatory review.

A state task force has drafted a road map that it says will make Maine a major generator of wind power. The group's draft report calls for streamlined regulatory review of wind power projects in most regions of the state so 1,000 or more turbines could be set up by 2020. It also identifies important scenic areas -- places like Baxter State Park, Acadia National Park and the Appalachian Trail -- that would be protected from the visual impacts of wind farms. "This is a major step forward," said Alec Giffen, director of the Maine Forest Service and chairman of the Governor's Task Force on Wind Power. "It's going to put Maine in a position to be a leader in wind power and it's going to preserve Maine's quality of place." ...The final task force report will include a map of the regions where proposed wind farms would get speedier review by state agencies. Studies of wildlife impacts would still be required, but visual impacts would be considered only under special circumstances.

In separate decisions Monday, the Land Use Regulation Commission rejected one wind-power proposal but approved another that will be New England's largest wind installation. By a 4-2 vote Monday morning, the commission rejected Maine Mountain Power's 54-megawatt Black Nubble Wind Farm, which proposed 18 turbines on that Franklin County mountain. In the afternoon, the citizen board approved TransCanada's 132-megawatt Kibby Wind Power project, which calls for placing 44 turbines on Kibby Mountain and Kibby Range, both in Franklin County. When constructed, that project will be the largest of its kind in New England, according to TransCanada. Together, the two decisions amount to a mixed bag for the state's fledgling wind industry.

With Maine's spot as New England's largest generator of wind power already well-established, state regulators on Monday will consider two more projects that would produce enough clean power to keep the lights glowing and toasters cooking in more than 70,000 homes. ...Because the record was closed following last fall's hearings on the projects, no public testimony or comment will be accepted Monday, when the commissioners will essentially debate and discuss proposals. While Carroll said no vote is expected at Monday's public session, but a date could be set for a final decision.

The wind in New England blows mainly against big green-energy projects. At least that's the assessment of Matt Kearns, an audibly frazzled project manager for Newton, MA-based UPC Wind. Despite winning final approval last week for the creation of New England's largest wind-energy installation, now under construction on a ridge in northern Maine, Kearns says the regulatory and political barriers to placing major cleantech facilities in the region are high enough to scare off all but the most persistent and well-funded entrepreneurs. "The uncertainty and the costs associated with that uncertainty are pretty overwhelming, frankly, in many cases," says Kearns, who has spent the last several years shepherding UPC's Stetson Mountain wind farm project past the cautious scrutiny of state, county, and federal agencies, not to mention local residents and environmental groups.

On Capitol Hill, the Audubon Society is leading the fight to increase production of climate-friendly power. So why are Audubon enthusiasts battling a wind farm that could help meet that goal? For one thing, there are trout in nearby streams, which activists say are at risk from chemical and sediment runoff from construction of 30 turbines, each soaring about 400 feet -- taller than the Statue of Liberty. Then there are the bats and hawks, which might be puréed by the giant blades that would catch the wind gusting along the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. "They're enormous," says Tom Dick, a retired veterinarian who founded the local Audubon chapter. "When you start looking at this, it's like, 'hell, this is not right.'"

Among the options under consideration to keep a lid on the runaway cost of electricity in Maine is a cross-border alliance with New Brunswick and other provinces of Atlantic Canada, where affordable and renewable energy is abundant. One vocal critic of the status quo says that approach won't be enough to undo the damage done by "restructuring" through deregulation. ...While Canada may be a source of renewable energy that would reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Lee said affordability could remain an issue. "The fact is that many renewables require massive subsidies to entice investment," he said. "These subsidies ultimately must be paid either in electric rates or in taxes. Large investments in transmission are needed, and these costs must also be paid.

Land Use Regulation Commission unanimously approved the zoning request for a 57-megawatt project on Stetson Mountain, a ridge line that stretches between Danforth and Springfield in northern Washington County. The applicant, Evergreen Wind Power, has already built the region's largest operating wind farm -- a 42-megawatt, 28-turbine project in Mars Hill, Maine, that started generating power earlier this year. Evergreen is a subsidiary of UPC Wind Management of Newton, Mass.

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.

A National Park Service official who oversees the Appalachian Trail is scheduled to testify this morning that a proposed wind farm near Sugarloaf Mountain would have a dramatic effect on one of the most remote and scenic sections of the 2,175-mile hiking path. Pamela Underhill's testimony is certain to frustrate some observers, including some as far away as Washington, D.C. After Underhill delivered a similar message last summer about a larger version of the wind-farm proposal, a California congressman called her in for questioning and, in a letter to the secretary of the interior, questioned why someone at Underhill's level was allowed to take a stand against renewable energy.

FARMINGTON - The debate over wind power continued Friday as people wrangled over the need to develop sustainable renewable energy sources, conserve energy, preserve mountaintops, and where towering wind turbines would fit on Maine mountains, if they do.

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.

AUGUSTA — A new study of the legalities and logistics of an electrical utility partnership involving Maine and New Brunswick shows no significant barriers to such a cross-border collaboration. It also shows “significant economic and environmental benefits” are possible on both sides of the border through closer coordination in the production and transmission of electricity.

Gov. John Baldacci signed an executive order Tuesday that creates the Governor's Task Force on Wind Power Development in Maine. "Maine must be aggressive in pursuing alternative sources of energy," Gov. Baldacci said. "We know that climate change is real. We know that people are contributing to the problem. And we know that wind power is a good source of clean, renewable energy." The Task Force will review regulations that affect the development of wind power projects in the state and recommend any changes that would assure that Maine has a balanced, efficient and appropriate regulatory framework for evaluating proposed developments.

"Our analysis finds that there are no insurmountable legal, economic or technical barriers to withdrawing from ISO-NE," he said. "Viable alternatives to ISO-NE now exist, such as the formation of a Maine independent transmission company or the creation of a Maine-Canadian Maritimes market." Adams said the MPUC continues to study both options and will make its recommendations in a final report to the Legislature in January 2008. The preliminary report indicates that the final report will focus on "opportunities" with Canada's Maritime provinces.

Despite last week’s ruling by state officials that could lead to final rejection of the proposed Redington wind power project in western Maine, Gov. John Baldacci said he remains committed to that form of renewable energy. The governor did not question last Wednesday’s 6-1 vote by the Land Use Regulation Commission, saying that LURC “is an independent, citizen board” that must scrutinize each project in a balanced and measured way. “They are responsible for evaluating projects like this one. Just because I support an expansion of wind energy does not exempt the project from the review process. These things have to be done in a reasonable way,” the governor told The Associated Press.

A federal law designed to ease electricity transmission bottlenecks and improve power reliability could hit Maine ratepayers in the pocketbooks, twice. The measure could force the construction of transmission lines to move Maine’s surplus power south. Not only could the loss of the surplus increase the price of electricity in the state, but Maine consumers would also have to pay part of the cost of building the lines.

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.