AUGUSTA -- A public hearing on a proposed wind farm in the Redington Township will be set by the end of summer.

FREEDOM (March 13): Three wind turbines will sit atop Beaver Ridge in Freedom and quietly generate enough “clean” electricity to serve 2,000 households by the end of next year, if all goes according to plan.

FREEDOM - A Portland-based energy broker wants to install three wind turbines on a ridge in this western Waldo County town that would provide enough electricity to power 2,000 houses.

A Portland-based energy provider has submitted an application to build a small-scale wind power project in Freedom.

ST. AGATHA - A Delaware-based company involved in wind energy is taking options on hundreds of acres of farm and forestland in the central St. John Valley where a wind farm could be located, if wind tests are positive.

Existing or proposed wind power projects in northern New England. Excludes locations where wind is being measured but no turbines have been proposed yet.

WESTERN MOUNTAINS -- An application for the long anticipated wind farm proposal for Redington & Black Nubble mountains now is now officially in the hands of the Land Use Regulation Commission.

During the program, Dyer's group takes a look at the energy consumption reductions the town has made and converts the figures to derive a carbon reduction equivalent, which may qualify the town for reduction credits in future regional or national programs.

There's more to determining the value of wind power than knowing which way the wind blows -- or even how hard. MIT researchers studying winds off the Northeast coast have found that estimating the potential environmental benefits from wind and other renewables requires a detailed understanding of the dynamics of both renewable resources and conventional power generation. Data show that wind-energy facilities would generate far more electricity in winter, because that's when winds are strongest. But the need for electricity is greatest in summer, when air conditioners are going full blast.

A group called Friends of the Western Mountains has collected thousands of signatures from citizens concerned about the project.

Group organizer Dain Trafton of Phillips said he believes the wind farm's output is not large enough to justify marring one of the most beautiful landscapes in the Northeast. "It would constitute, if it were built, an industrial intrusion into a mountain area," he said.

New England's largest operating project is a 6.6-megawatt, 11-turbine wind farm in Searsburg, Vt., run by Green Mountain Power Corp. The other commercial-scale project -- perhaps the region's most visible Ð is the single, 164-foot-high turbine in Hull, Mass. Flights out of Boston's Logan Airport sometimes pass right by it.

Growing interest in wind power has led to six new wind farm proposals in Vermont and at least five wind farms now being constructed or under discussion in New Hampshire. In Maine, at least two projects are facing reviews

New England is possessed of much talent but looses a considerable portion of it to other states due to the regions relative weakness in providing for a reasonable priced cost of living even though taxes do not appear to be a competitive disadvantage to New England.

"Its intrinsic value is that it's remote," she said, which is, ironically, one of the arguments for putting the towers and perhaps later wind turbines there

New England faces major near-term challenges in all parts of its energy infrastructure including natural gas facilities, electric transmission lines and electric power generation, according to a report released today by the New England Energy Alliance.