Signs point to Gilford voters deciding next March whether to approve an ordinance dealing with wind turbines. The Gilford Planning Board on Monday evening discussed definitions of the ordinance, mainly dealing with sound level limitations, maximum unit height and setback restrictions. "We have always had decibel issues," Director of Planning and Land Use John Ayer said. "We will consult with a certified professional when dealing with the decibel limitations."

Gov. John Lynch signed into law House Bill 310, which sets maximum restrictions on what a community can do when someone proposes to erect a wind tower to generate electricity. ...The new law, explained Murphy, is different from other state land-use regulations "which allow towns to enact restrictions greater than those the state imposes; this one was framed in such a way to be the most restrictive. I believe the intent was so that towns, for whatever reason, could not totally outlaw wind tower use within their boundaries."

Public Service Company of New Hampshire has filed for almost a 10 percent hike in electric rates for next year. ...Part of the increase has to do with both the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, designed to curb carbon emissions, and the Renewable Portfolio Standards, set up to move the state toward getting 25 percent of its power from renewables by 2025. Murray estimated that amount 20-30 percent of the increase can be attributed to those two programs, but indicated those costs haven't been completely determined yet. "In terms of RGGI, this is all quite new to us," he said.

The Planning Board is looking into putting forward a zoning ordinance to voters in March that would regulate the construction of residential wind turbines in town. The board got the ball rolling recently by reviewing a model "Small Wind Energy Systems Ordinance" put out by the state's office of Energy and Planning. ...The bill, signed into law by Gov. John Lynch in July, states towns can no longer limit or hinder small wind energy systems through ordinance or regulations.

[T]here are some negatives associated with the increasingly popular form of alternative energy, according to a University of New Hampshire expert. But the cons - mainly noise and vibrations from the rotating turbines - are generally things people can live with, UNH assistant professor of geography Mary Lemcke said. In South Berwick, a 300-foot-high ridge across from Marshwood High School is being eyed as a possible location for a wind farm. A Cape Neddick-based alternative energy company is conducting a yearlong wind study there with the hopes a wind farm would be viable. For Wisconsin resident Gerry Meyer, however, the sound of five 400-foot-tall wind turbines located within three quarters of a mile of his home is simply unbearable.

More wind farms may start cropping up across New Hampshire, but questions remain about how profitable they are. A new state law pushes energy companies to use more renewable energy, including wind. But how affective turbines are remains largely untested. ...Iberdrola surveyed the Lempster site for five years before building and hopes to be making power by the end of the year. Even then, it may take a little longer for the wind farm to cut electricity bills.

It's a bit behind schedule, but a $48 million project to bring wind power to New Hampshire via a dozen huge turbines near Mount Sunapee should be up and running by Christmas. ..."We have a love-hate relationship with them. . . . Some people think it spoils the ridgeline," said Lempster Selectman Ed Everett Thurber. Concern about appearance, and about the effect of the large construction work stretching along about five miles of ridgeline, led several landowners in and around Lempster to file opposition to the project after it was proposed, some four years ago. Thurber said his only concern was how the turbines would sound when they start spinning.

Drive through Lempster these days and you'll see the progress being made on the state's first commercial wind farm. When up and running, the 12 windmills on Lempster Mountain are expected to produce enough clean renewable energy for about 10 thousands homes. With America increasingly looking for clean energy and independence from oil, wind farms are one possibility. A big one is proposed for Coos County. The project has its fans, but it also has it opponents. NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.

Representatives for the company looking to build 33 wind turbines on ridgelines in the unincorporated areas of Dixville and Millsfield fielded some tough questions from the more than 120 people who attended a public hearing in Groveton last night. ...Nine parties have applied to intervene in the case, meaning they would become parties to the proceedings and could file briefs, collect discovery and question the applicant. They include wind and anti-wind energy groups, the Appalachian Mountain Club and five individuals.

Rep. Fred King, a Colebrook Republican and a member of the county planning board, which oversees land use in the unincorporated areas, said the county delegation and commissioners have endorsed the wind project. But, he said, he has made it his "mission in life" to see the transmission line upgraded so biomass plants, which would create more long-term jobs and sustain the region's history of logging, can be built, too. "It's safe to say, if we did get to vote on it and we had the two to pick from (biomass and wind), my guess is we'd probably vote for the biomass plant," he said.

Parts for New Hampshire's first commercial wind farm are arriving by truck and train. The 400-foot-tall turbines will be built on a ridge on Lempster Mountain in Lempster ...The parts that sit atop the 12 towers and hold the turbine blades weigh 64 tons each.

Imagine 30 wind turbines whirring ATOP two remote Maine peaks. The 300-ton towers, with blades sweeping 400 feet high and aglow with aircraft-warning lights, would each produce 9,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year. So what's wrong with this picture? A lot, according to groups like the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC)–like the fact that the windmills in this proposed farm would be visible from a 34-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

Governors of the six New England states met July 9 for their New England Governors Conference meeting in Boston to discuss energy and try to forge, among other things, an agreement on funding new transmission lines to bring electricity from remote wind and biomass power plants in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire to the urban centers on the Eastern Seaboard. The state chief executives met in private for what was reported to be some free and candid bargaining, but participants later confirmed that New Hampshire will likely have to go it alone if it wants expand transmission capability in Coos County in order to make renewable energy projects with a total of between 300 and 400 megawatts a reality.

He said that although many people are interested in building them [windmills], the reality is that the windmills only make sense in the southwestern parts of the state, north toward the Sunapee region, and in the White Mountains -- areas with elevated, open space and consistently strong winds. "That excludes a lot of regions where people think it's windy, but (the wind is) not consistent enough," Weissflog said. "People are currently looking for alternatives, and they're really grasping at straws sometimes."

Boisvert said future projects only will result in more spending as the utility carries out needed improvements. She also said one of the most expensive projects on the horizon could be the proposed Coos County Loop. She said this project requires the transmission lines in Coos County to be upgraded so new biomass, wind and solar power generated there can be transported to Southern New Hampshire and other states as needed. Boisvert said PSNH has to carry out that project to meet the state's Renewable Portfolio Standards approved by state lawmakers. ... It has yet to be determined if the costs will be borne by PSNH ratepayers, New Hampshire state taxpayers or shouldered by customers of member utility companies that make up ISO-New England throughout the Northeast. "There's no definitive answer," Boisvert said.

Fuller Clark talked about existing transmission lines in New Hampshire's North Country and the issue of who pays for expansion of lines, and by what method energy might be moved from that area to meet demands in the rest of the state and New England. While the expansion cost for Hampton Falls is the responsibility of Public Service of New Hampshire, it actually falls on the ratepayers, Fuller Clark said. "If PSNH can't come up with a solution to transmission, (we) turn to Canada," Fuller Clark said, describing Canada as having "extraordinary plants. Ideally, we would prefer to develop our own resources here."

In two or three years, the region should have a fledgling renewable energy industry in place and enough Internet capacity to attract call centers and other firms that need first-rate communications, they say. ...Both energy firms believe the existing Public Service of New Hampshire transmission lines, thought to have 100 megawatts of remaining capacity, can handle the extra current after a relatively small private investment. Patch has told lawmakers Noble will spend between $10 million and $15 million to tighten the power lines. Bartoszek confirmed his company would spend a tiny part of its $100 million project cost on transmission improvements.

Public Service of New Hampshire may not be happy with Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative legislation that’s making its way through the Legislature, but the utility won’t actively oppose it, says Gary Long, president and chief operating officer. In an interview with New Hampshire Business Review, Long said PSNH “didn’t oppose what went through the House,” even though the company had major concerns with the bill that would set a regional cap on carbon emissions and force utilities to bid in an open auction to obtain allowances to emit carbons. Long said he was concerned that the free-market model proposed for the carbon allowances might drive up electric rates.

This extended news piece addresses efforts to bring renewable generation to northern New England.