Two weeks ago, Jackson selectmen voted to extend a six-month moratorium on issuing permits for industrial wind developments, but the vote was nullified when town officials found that a public hearing on the issue was required. On June 30, the board convened a pro forma public hearing and made the extension official.

Ninety-two people signed a petition that asks selectmen to convene a special town meeting vote to rescind previously approved changes to town law allowing wind power facilities, according to Town Clerk Nina Hodgkins. At Tuesday night's board meeting, selectmen accepted both the petition and a letter from Record Hill Wind LLC principal and former Maine governor Angus King.

The Planning Board voted 5-0 Tuesday night to approve rezoning that would allow anemometer towers to be erected in most areas of Portland. The decision means that plans for two projects, floated earlier this year, will be able to move forward if the City Council endorses the board's recommendation and the Zoning Board of Appeals grants approval.

Plans for a commercial wind farm off Route 236 have been grounded. Ra Power Solutions, a Cape Neddick-based renewable energy company, recently completed a study indicating wind speeds are insufficient to power a set of turbines. The company was exploring building a small-scale "niche" wind farm consisting of up to 300-foot high turbines on a ridge across from Marshwood High School.

Crum said they first learned three years ago about problems associated with wind turbine clutter from people seeing significantly different radar images. "We knew about it, but we didn't realize how big of a problem it could be, because most of the wind farms that had been out there in the past were smaller and not these wind farms that we're seeing now with turbines of 400 to 500 feet tall," Crum said.

People opposing Record Hill Wind LLC's proposal to site 22 wind-power turbines in town have launched a petition drive to rescind approved ordinance changes allowing such facilities. The petition asks selectmen to call a special town meeting to amend the comprehensive plan by deleting all language and sections referring to wind power that were added by a majority vote at a special town meeting Jan. 15.

The Board of Selectmen has decided to extend the town's moratorium on wind-energy projects for another six months. The board granted the 180-day extension Tuesday night after meeting with members of the planning board and the subcommittee that drafted a proposed ordinance governing wind-energy applications. The extension is aimed at giving the planning board the necessary time to review the proposed wind-power ordinance.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has released its answers to questions and concerns raised earlier this year about a proposed wind-power project in Roxbury. As part of its review process, the department convened its public meeting on Feb. 18 to gather information and questions people had about the Record Hill Wind project. It proposes to site 22 wind turbines on Roxbury ridges running from Partridge Peak to Record Hill on the west side of Route 17.

As planners and developers zero in on locations for offshore wind turbines along the Maine coast, researchers such as Wing Goodale are trying to follow the birds. Goodale, a biologist with the BioDiversity Research Institute in Gorham, is about to release a report and a preliminary map of bird populations along the Maine coast. It's one of several efforts to prevent, or at least reduce, conflicts between offshore turbines and the animals that live in or pass through coastal Maine.

Gov. John Baldacci is hoping that the U.S. Department of Energy, now under a new administration, will get behind a deep water windpower test project off the coast of Maine. Baldacci had a supportive audience today at the 2009 EnergyOcean Conference in Rockport, where policy makers mingled with engineers and developers, all with an interest in tapping the state's oceans winds and waves for power generation.

The Record Hill wind project continues to divide residents and raise questions about the role of wind as an alternative energy source in Maine. "Wind turbines do not belong in Maine's mountains, period," Steve Thurston wrote in an e-mail. Thurston, a private contractor and Vermont resident, owns property near Roxbury Pond in the vicinity of where the turbines will be sited pending Maine Department of Environmental Protection approval.

One of the large wind turbine blades being hauled from Searsport to the Canadian Maritimes hit and broke a traffic light and pulled down wires at Hogan Road and Mount Hope Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday, according to Bangor police.

After a sorely disappointing eight-month trial period, the town of Kittery, Maine, is shutting down the 50-kilowatt wind turbine it installed at the Transfer Station last fall. Real-time data from the 124-foot turbine shows that it generated less than 15 percent of the electricity expected between October and May.

The Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing on June 23 on a proposal that would allow temporary towers for wind meters throughout the city. But the idea is running into opposition from residents and even some Planning Board members. ...Although city administrators are presenting the proposal as a simple means to research, residents and some Planning Board members fear that putting a wind meter on a 100-foot tower is an inherent precursor to a turbine.

Members of the council voted to authorize Town Manager Jon Carter to accept money coming in from Colorado-based Entegrity Wind Systems in the total amount of $191,028, after the wind turbine installed by the company last October delivered only 15 percent of its promised electricity yield.

Gov. John Baldacci and the state's congressional delegation asked U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Friday to allocate $20 million to fund a wind research center in Maine. The proposed National Deepwater Offshore Wind Research Center would include a facility at the University of Maine and a coastal and offshore test center.

Eight months after installing a 50 kilowatt wind turbine on top of a hill at the Kittery Waste Transfer Station town officials have chosen to call it quits on the alternative energy project due to its "underperformance." Town Manager Jon Carter announced Tuesday the town will look to sell the turbine back to the manufacturer, Entegrity Wind Systems, and will in turn recoup the $191,028 in funds used for the turbine, the tower and installation costs.

A wind turbine at the Kittery transfer station will be removed and the town will be reimbursed for its cost, after testing indicated the turbine produced only 15 percent of the electricity expected. ..."I am very disappointed, but the lessons learned are very valuable," he said. "We're not going to proceed to install this sized turbine again without a clear understanding of the wind sustainability and location."

The Maine Senate took a lopsided initial vote Monday to deny Carrabassett Valley the right to move forward with a plan to annex Redington Township. Senators voted 29-6 against it, in a reversal of the State and Local Government Committee vote, which approved the measure.

The turbine is located on a hill at the Kittery Transfer Station. When it went into operation in October, town officials expected it to produce enough electricity to save about $15,000 a year. But town Manager Jon Carter says the 50-kilowatt turbine has fallen well short of the energy production goal. Carter says from October through May the turbine produced less than 15 percent of what was expected.