State regulators on Thursday dismissed a $625 million power grid expansion necessary to support a massive wind farm in northern Maine, putting the so-called Maine Power Connection project on ice for the time being. The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Thursday granted a motion to dismiss the project after Aroostook Wind Energy discovered unanticipated technical hurdles.

State regulators on Thursday formally dismissed a $625 million power grid expansion necessary to support a massive wind farm in northern Maine, putting the Maine Power Connection project on ice for the time being. Despite the setback, the partners on the power grid project and Aroostook Wind Energy insisted they weren't giving up on the idea. ...utility officials discovered that the project as proposed could cause power grid instability to the south, and Aroostook Wind decided against further studies.

A moratorium on industrial wind farms and a new comprehensive plan both passed by wide margins Wednesday night during a special town meeting at the Etna Dixmont School. The 131 voters who turned out for the meeting voted 111-20 in favor of the 180-day moratorium, which aimed to give town officials time to study the pros and cons of such projects, First Selectman Brian Wilson said.

Acres of solar-electric panels installed near communities that use lots of power in the summer could be an alternative to a controversial and costly upgrade of the transmission system in southern and central Maine, a Portland-based energy company is asserting. GridSolar LLC suggests erecting solar panels in 25-acre fields, initially around the midcoast and Lewiston-Auburn. The locations would coincide with areas that Central Maine Power Co. has identified as being most prone to future blackouts and reliability problems, GridSolar said.

Residents of Dixmont will vote Wednesday on a proposal to impose a 180-day moratorium on industrial wind farms in order to give town officials time to study the pros and cons of such projects. The moratorium proposal is in response to a Portland company that is exploring placing several large wind turbines on Dixmont's Mount Harris. The company, Competitive Energy Services, is also affiliated with the three-turbine Beaver Ridge Wind Project that was completed recently in Freedom.

The effort to put a wind turbine on Munjoy Hill in Portland is on hold after complaints from neighbors worried the energy producer's rotating blades would wreak havoc on their quality of life. The district this week delayed plans to install a 100-foot-tall wind meter at East End Community School - the first step toward its goal of siting an energy turbine there. ...Rastl said he supports wind power but believes Pierpont is right to suggest the turbines be erected at least 1.25 miles from homes. He said densely populated Munjoy Hill is the wrong place for a large wind turbine.

To state officials and proponents of "green energy," Thursday's ceremony celebrating New England's newest wind farm was a relatively small yet symbolic step toward greater energy independence in Maine. ...But today wind-power projects nationwide are being delayed or put on the backburner due to economic turmoil.

New England's largest wind farm went on line Thursday highlighting what Gov. John Baldacci said makes Maine the region's leader in the creation of clean, oil-free wind power. ...But there also were 10 protesters at the project entrance. Accompanied by residents of Mars Hill and Danforth, the Friends of Lincoln Lakes group, which opposes First Wind's proposed Rollins Mountain wind farm, picketed what they considered the project's rushed permit approvals, which they felt trampled citizens' rights.

It's been a long time coming, but a vote at Thursday's special town meeting should finally give residents a chance to decide on the fate of the $120 million wind power project proposed by Record Hill Wind, LLC. ..."If the voters do not want this project, we shouldn't leave something on the books that allows somebody else to come in with a similar project," said Sutton.

A wind-energy project that will produce the equivalent power needs of 23,500 homes officially goes on line this week when Gov. John Baldacci attends an opening ceremony for the 57-megawatt project in Stetson.

A wind-power project for the western mountains that was rejected by the state's Land Use Regulation Commission last year is back with a new angle. Endless Energy Corp. founder Harley Lee, of Yarmouth, is proposing to restore his 30-turbine project in Redington Township by having Carrabassett Valley annex about 10,000 acres in the adjacent township that his corporation owns.

The 38-turbine wind farm along Stetson mountain's long, low ridgeline of 600 to 1,200 feet is the second in the state completed by First Wind ...Even as power begins flowing from the Stetson project, a 17-turbine extension known as Stetson II is in the permitting stages.

Three months after a local company began a yearlong study to determine if a commercial wind farm would be viable in a ridge off Route 236, officials said initial results are "marginal." "They're not spectacular," said Richard Benoit, president of the Cape Neddick-based Ra Power Solutions. ...Benoit declined to say how fast initial results showed the wind speed to be, but added the study will continue its course.

By margins of less than 10 votes, residents at Thursday night's special town meeting OK'd two amendments to town law, allowing wind power facilities to be built on town ridges. The tally was 89-81 to amend the comprehensive plan to allow wind generation facilities in Roxbury, and 87-80 to create a mountain district zone to designate areas suitable for erecting wind energy facilities.

In a four-and-a-half-hour public workshop with Central Maine Power Co. officials, city councilors Tuesday demanded to know why the electric company needs a $1.5 billion upgrade to its system. Why does CMP find it necessary to install high-capacity power lines through the area? Why can't the company come up with a different way to keep Maine's lights on, since so many people are opposed to the proposal?

A proposed wind-energy project designed to send massive amounts of electricity from Aroostook County through southern Maine has been put on hold, due in part to the discovery that a technical glitch in transmitting that power could black out portions of southern New England. The proposal involved hundreds of wind turbines with a total output of 800 megawatts, equivalent to the former Maine Yankee nuclear plant in Wiscasset.

Next stop, civil court. Friends of Lincoln Lakes group members said Friday they will go to Superior Court to appeal the town permit issued to a proposed $130 million Rollins Mountain wind farm. The Lincoln Appeals Board voted 4-2 on Thursday to dismiss the Friends' appeal on what group members called a technicality.

About 25 people attended Tuesday night's hearings on wind power and proposed Roxbury law changes to accommodate wind energy facilities. Most of them opposed such development, planner Mark Henry said. ..."The big thing is that we want to get the issue before the people of Roxbury so they can have their vote," he said.

In what might be the beginning of Maine's first major legal battle over wind power, the Lincoln Appeals Board will hear an appeal Thursday of First Wind of Massachusetts' town permit to build a proposed $130 million wind farm on Rollins Mountain.

While parking spaces and chairs were difficult to come by Tuesday, Jan. 6, at the Jackson Community Center, something else could be found in abundance - voters. More than 120 townspeople packed the building on the Village Road for a special town meeting and, by more than a two-to-one margin, 84-36, they voted in favor of a six-month moratorium on the construction of industrial wind turbines in town.