The policy that eventually became the Maine Wind Energy Act of 2008 was the product of several public groups and included crucial input from public agencies. There were a number of cases where people from those groups and agencies were either connected to the wind industry or would soon be connected to the wind industry.

Energy Policy Maine

There was never a mandate for the task force to examine the relative merits of wind power development in Maine. Instead, members started from the assumption that wind power should be developed in Maine, and the sooner, the better. "We felt we were in somewhat of a race with other states and Canadian providers" to build wind energy generation, said Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Gorham, a task force member and co-chairman of the Legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee.

Energy Policy Maine

Some members of the task force are questioning whether the goals they set for wind power can, or even should be, achieved. "Call it the bloom off the rose, call it the emperor being exposed as having no clothes," said O'Neil. "As the public learns the truth about the impacts and the benefits of this sort of development, the public is losing its interest in industrial scale wind."

Energy Policy Maine

In reality, commercial wind power is an unreliable, environmentally degrading, overpriced form of power generation. Nothing short of massive amounts of public money can make those projects happen, because no developer in his right mind would undertake a project without public money.

Energy Policy Maine

Maine's largest wind power developer is asking state regulators to reclassify nearly 700 acres of timberland in northern Washington County where the company hopes to build part of a 25-turbine wind farm.

Energy Policy Zoning/Planning Maine

The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to dedicate $20 million to develop and test deepwater offshore wind technologies, a decision expected to direct more federal research money to Maine. Today’s announcement follows a visit earlier this month to a deepwater wind research lab at the University of Maine by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Energy Policy Maine

Save Wind energy isn't free. And, it's destructive. The cost of electricity in Maine will double because of Gov. Baldacci's climate change policies favoring wind energy. Despite the claims of "Wind Week" propagandists, there is no empirical evidence that wind power will: 1. reduce the cost of electricity in Maine, 2. reduce carbon emissions, 3. make Maine ‘energy independent', or 4) be environmentally friendly.

Energy Policy Maine

Doug Rooks is correct about at least one thing (May 9). There is a growing backlash to industrial-scale wind turbines on Maine's mountains. People who care about Maine's present and future are refusing to roll over for the short-term interests of the wind industry and its largely unfounded claims.

Taxes & Subsidies Energy Policy General Maine

Gov. John E. Baldacci recognized the Maine Legislature and the public and private partners who worked to further Maine's goals to achieve energy independence by ceremonially signing five bills on May 11 that take steps to achieve clean energy goals.

Energy Policy Maine

Wednesday's discussion at Kennebec Valley Community College was sponsored by the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments and Somerset Economic Development Corp. The message was that wind power is seen as the next big opportunity for using natural resources to create high-wage jobs in Maine, without polluting the air we breath.

Energy Policy Maine

Wind energy has developed rapidly in Maine. It has benefited from federal financial incentives and clean-energy policies that are broadly supported by the Legislature and the administration of Gov. John Baldacci. The industry has directly invested $700 million in Maine during the past four years, according to the Maine Wind Industry Initiative, a new trade group.

Energy Policy Maine

Rhode Island officials working on a state ocean zoning plan were in Washington this week to take part in a workshop to develop national design and safety standards for offshore wind turbines. Because no offshore wind farms have been built yet in the United States, standards do not exist governing.

Energy Policy Maine

Thibodeau said Davies has not been at the committee work sessions on a regular basis and has not provided the panel with the benefit of an independent review of the extensive proposals from the Ocean Energy Task Force and their effect on ratepayers. "You arrived here at 4:35, and at 5:15 you are still reading the bill," he said. "I am amazed that this would not have been a huge priority for the public advocate's office."

Energy Policy Maine

Under changes to be finalized today at the committee's 2nd worksession on the bill. the "An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Governor's Ocean Energy Task Force" will focus Maine instead on constructing floating deepwater windmills on land, and then deploying them at locations ten miles offshore and further.

Energy Policy Maine

Maine - The parent company of Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. intends to buy the company that owns Presque Isle-based Maine Public Service Co., a move officials say will improve chances of building a power transmission line linking northern and southern Maine and bolster economic development in Aroostook County. In a deal valued at approximately $108 million, BHE Holdings Inc. ...plans to buy Maine & Maritimes Corp., or MAM, which owns Maine Public Service Co.

Energy Policy Maine

Oil dealers say it would kill their industry and cost thousands of jobs. They and other critics also say the electricity from offshore wind would be very expensive, and note that customers would have to pay higher electricity bills to make it possible. ...the cost of offshore wind power and how to pay for it got a bit more real when Chuck Digate stepped up to testify. Digate is managing general partner of Neptune Wind LLC, a Massachusetts company that is interested in developing an ocean wind farm in Maine. It will cost an estimated $1.5 billion to build a 250-megawatt ocean wind project, he said. Its power would cost 22 cents a kilowatt hour, and with no state support to help financing debt, he said, it would add $8 a month to the average household's electricity bill.

Energy Policy Maine

Today lawmakers and wind power advocates and opponents spoke out at a hearing on an ambitious piece of offshore wind legislation proposed by Gov. John Baldacci. The emergency measure includes a goal of installing enough offshore wind turbines to power nearly 100,000 homes by 2020.

Energy Policy Maine

In the discussion of the proposed underground energy corridor between New Brunswick and Maine, there are two major misunderstandings. Some Mainers believe that Canadian power is so cheap that we should do almost anything to get it. Some Canadian suppliers believe there is an unquenchable thirst in New England for power from Canada, especially green power.

Energy Policy Canada Maine

The Carper-Snowe-Brown-Collins Offshore Wind Bill provides the offshore wind industry with enhanced stability by extending production and investment tax credits for offshore wind until 2020. The senators say these provisions are vital because of the long lead times required to permit and construct wind turbines offshore, compared to onshore wind energy. Offshore wind includes any wind turbine located in the inland navigable waters of the United States, including coastal waters and the Great Lakes.

Energy Policy USA Maine

Maine shouldn't expect lower-cost, Canadian hydroelectricity to flow through the state via new transmission lines in the near future, a top Hydro-Quebec executive said here Thursday. One of the world's largest producers of hydro power, Hydro-Quebec plans to concentrate first on expanding its exports to New England with a line through New Hampshire, according to Christian Brosseau, president of subsidiary HQ Energy Services US.

Energy Policy Transmission Maine New Hampshire