Having considered seven sites along Maine's coast for offshore wind demonstration projects, state officials on Tuesday narrowed the list to four possible locations where researchers might explore the potential for wind power facilities. The University of Maine, which earlier this month received an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for wind energy research, and commercial developers will be able to test deep-water wind turbines.

Dozens of people listened to five speakers give their views on wind energy at a forum Friday. Linda Walbridge, of the Western Maine Economic Development Council, said the goal of the forum was to help residents make informed decisions about wind power on a local level. The speakers included one proponent and one opponent of wind power, a sound permitting specialist and two people involved with proposed wind turbine projects in Oxford Hills.

A resident's petition asking the town to approve a 180-day moratorium on wind power development was found sufficient by selectmen Tuesday night. There were 115 valid signatures on the petition. The decision on whether to hold a referendum at the polls or a special town meeting to vote on the issue was tabled until all members of the Board of Selectmen are present. James Parker's petition says that the full impact of wind turbines has not been fully explored.

Residents got a chance to ask a panel of experts about what wind development, and passing the ordinance would mean for them. It was clear from the number of cards being filled out, people in Dixmont had a lot of questions about wind power development in their town, which currently has a moratorium on wind power development. That measure was put in place to give the town time to draft an ordinance to regulate development. The planning board has completed the first draft of that ordinance, and Monday, residents got a chance to anonymously ask a panel of experts about it.

Under the whisper of a whirling 410-foot wind turbine, 250 people stood at the top of Kibby Mountain today to help celebrate the start-up of half of TransCanada's $320 million Kibby Wind Power Project and, somewhat unexpectedly, hear plans for the expansion of Kibby's 44-windmill project by adding 15 more on nearby Sisk Mountain. The proposed $100 million expansion project on Sisk Mountain would be located just west of the Kibby range and mountain project.

Maine's pursuit of renewable energy got a stiff tailwind from two directions Thursday. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that a consortium led by the University of Maine has been awarded as much as $8 million to develop technology to harness winds and deploy two floating, offshore turbines in the Gulf of Maine. Also Thursday, Gov. John Baldacci's office announced it would help start up the first half of a Kibby Mountain wind power project.

Though Lynne Williams supports alternative energy production and doesn't oppose the use of windmills to create it, she is fighting wind power in Maine just about every way she can. A Bar Harbor attorney representing the Friends of Lincoln Lakes, Williams is pursuing two appeals of decisions that, if reaffirmed, would help clear the way for an industrial wind site on Rollins Mountain ridgelines in Burlington, Lee, Lincoln and Winn.

At least two foreign business groups plan to visit Maine to explore wind power investment possibilities, following the governor's trade mission to Spain, Germany and Norway last month. StatoilHydro is expected in mid-November. The Norwegian energy giant has the only deep-water wind turbine off its coast, and it has an agreement with the University of Maine to explore the feasibility of putting such a turbine in the Gulf of Maine.

Questions ranging from how installing wind turbines might affect tourism and wildlife, to beliefs that such devices could cause physical and mental illnesses were put forth by some of the members of a panel Tuesday night that explored the possible ramifications of building a wind farm atop three local mountains. Conspicuously absent were representatives from First Wind LLC, the Newton, Mass.

A forum scheduled for next week will feature several representatives from proposed wind farm projects in the Oxford Hills. The Wind Energy Educational Forum will take place from 7 to 9 a.m. at Four Seasons Function Center on Route 26. Town Manager David Holt of Norway will moderate the forum, which is sponsored by the Western Maine Economic Development Council. The event is free and includes a continental breakfast.

A subsidiary of the state's largest wind power manufacturer will get Maine's first long-term electricity supply contract for its proposed 60-megawatt Rollins Mountain project in Penobscot County, officials said this week. The Maine Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved awarding the 20-year contract to First Wind Holding LLC ...While a state permit allowing construction of the project, which has yet to attract investors, has been appealed by a group opposing the wind farm, proponents are optimistic that the contract will help secure investors in the project.

A $250 million project to erect 48 wind turbines on four peaks in Somerset County was outlined at a meeting of about 30 people Thursday night. Because Highland Plantation is considered an unorganized territory, Independence Wind principals Angus King and Robert Gardiner are expected to file an application for permits for their plan with Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission by early November.

Selectmen on Tuesday learned of a citizens' petition calling for a 180-day moratorium on wind power development in town. Kirk Nadeau, president of Kean Engineering of Turner, has proposed erecting three, 1.5 megawatt turbines on Streaked Mountain but said he will not proceed without the town's support. James Parker, who is gathering signatures to bring the petition to selectmen, and ultimately to townspeople for a vote, said the full impact of a wind facility has not been explored.

At Tuesday night's nearly two-hour informational meeting, about 70 people learned that blasting begins Wednesday morning on Record Hill Wind LLC's $120 million, 22-turbine wind farm project. It will be a single blast at 10:30 a.m. at a depth of 10 feet by a Maine Drilling and Blasting crew ...Foundation work will start Nov. 1 on the Turbine 22 site and progress northward until winter conditions stop work, said DeFilipp.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has reached a deal with First Wind Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Evergreen Wind Power III LLC, for electricity generated at the company's $130 million, 60-megawatt Rollins Mountain wind farm in Penobscot County, according to a press release from the PUC. No dollar figure can be attached to the contract until it is signed, which is expected to occur next week, Evelyn deFrees, a PUC spokesperson, told Mainebiz.

Gov. John Baldacci and others addressed the group at the beginning of the day, laying out national trends and where Maine fits in. In the afternoon, attendees sat in on sessions ranging from wind power generation for cities and towns to energy transmission issues in Maine. Outside, about 40 people protested Maine's wind power projects, and the current regulatory process.

Hundreds of wind energy enthusiasts gathered for Maine's first "Wind Energy Conference" in Augusta today. Supporters say wind power could mean big business for Maine. But as NECN's Amy Sinclair reports, not all Mainers are enthusiastic about these winds of change. To supporters, these turning turbines are symbols of clean renewable energy and economic growth. Opponents view them as symbols of government waste and environmental destruction.

With dozens of wind turbines proposed in a half-dozen towns in various stages of planning, the Wind Farm Development Committee of Rumford is planning a panel discussion on the pros and cons of such development. The forum begins at 6 p.m. Oct. 13 ...The local committee is particularly concerned with tentative plans by First Wind, LLC, of Newton, Mass., to site a 40-megawatt wind farm on the ridge that connects Black, South Twin and North Twin mountains. Most of the site is in Rumford, with a small portion in Roxbury.

Gov. John Baldacci and a national energy expert on Tuesday touted Maine's capacity to become a major producer of wind power and manufacturing jobs as the nation shifts to greener sources of energy. But just outside the wind energy conference where the two men spoke, several dozen protesters accused the Baldacci administration and wind power companies of ignoring the impacts that the enormous turbines can have on the health and property values of nearby residents as well as on wildlife.

An event in Augusta today that's billed as Maine's first statewide conference on wind energy is expected to draw the state's first organized protest against industrial-scale wind power. ...It's unclear how many opponents will show up at today's Maine Wind Energy Conference. But organizers of the protest say they plan to stand in the Augusta Civic Center parking lot and try to engage conference participants on their way inside. "There's huge resistance to wind," said Steve Thurston, a Vermont resident whose family has a camp on Roxbury Pond. "People are frantic about what's coming."