A $140-million, 22-wind turbine project involving four Hancock County towns is moving forward.

Longroad Energy Partners, which is developing the project, submitted an application to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Oct. 31, said Mark Bergeron, director of the DEP’s Bureau of Land Resources.

“One of the first steps that we take is to review the information to see that it’s complete for processing — have they submitted all the necessary materials?”…

..................Projects bidding into the clean-energy competition were scored using a 100-point scale, with the price of power accounting for 75 points. The remaining 25 points reflect values such as development status and overall chances of success, Dalton said.

Avangrid/CMP’s initial cost of $950 million translated into an attractive rate for Massachusetts electric customers. Northern Pass, by contrast, was estimated at $1.4 billion, although it has secured most of its permits…

Some of the bids would have Rhode Island buy power from land-based wind farms of up to 350 megawatts proposed by EDP Renewables and Apex Clean Energy in Maine, large solar projects of up to 170 megawatts proposed by EDF Renewables in undisclosed locations and a host of smaller solar proposals of 20 or 50 megawatts proposed by Freepoint Solar in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont.....................…

"Maine can keep our energy dollars in state by investing in an energy future that makes our economy more dynamic, competitive and clean.".........................................................................

https://www.centralmaine.com/2018/11/14/george-smith-2019-may-be-maines-year-for-clean-energy/

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Central Maine Power Co.’s plan to build a $1 billion, 145-mile transmission line through western Maine is facing another potential delay after the Maine Department of Environmental Protection notified the company this week that its application to build the project is incomplete.

The DEP said it cannot move forward with evaluating CMP’s New England Clean Energy Connect proposal until the company provides the mandatory information.

Continue here:…

Nearby Portland, the hotbed of wind power advocates, of course bans wind turbines over 100' tall.

While perhaps it's understandable that such a large amount of ink gets expended by the Press Herald given Scarborough is within its core readership area, wouldn't it be nice if they'd spend a proportional amount of ink on the far taller (and noisier) wind turbine factories atop our ridges?

Scarborough cell tower opponents send a strong signal to Verizon…

Despite aggressive policy goals, the industry's at a crossroads as transmission capacity expenses undercut its potential.

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/11/04/market-forces-buffeting-future-of-wind-power-in-maine/

RELATED:

Since James LaBrecque is referenced in the article, the following is being reposted here so readers can learn what Mr.…

Please comment if you can add anything indicating whether there's anything to this or not.

On Oct. 17 in Hallowell at the Public Utilities Commission hearing, Kurt Beverage, a retired Central Maine Power employee, said, “This project will help unbundle the wind resources in western Maine.” Unbundle means to separate business activities, meaning that wind transmission lines from western Maine would not have to connect with the Kibby Wind Project, if…

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has extended the process for deciding whether to award a permit needed for the 145-mile transmission project to move forward.

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/11/02/regulators-push-cmp-corridor-decision-into-march/

AND

PUC won't decide CMP's $950M transmission line project until March…

As a new study confirms, turbines would have to be stacked across state-sized swaths of the American landscape.

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“We found that the average power density—meaning the rate of energy generation divided by the encompassing area of the wind plant—was up to 100 times lower than estimates by some leading energy experts,” said lead author Lee Miller, a postdoctoral fellow who coauthored the report with…

Mercer is the latest member of the governor’s Wind Energy Advisory Commission to leave office just as the group begins its review of the wind power industry’s impacts in Maine.

AUGUSTA – The commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection is stepping down next month.

Paul Mercer, who has headed the DEP since January 2016, is the latest…

By Fred Bever, Maine Public • November 1, 2018 7:37 pm

Some supporters of Central Maine Power’s billion dollar transmission project are looking to Canada’s Hydro-Quebec to shore up prospects for a key permit in Maine. They want the Canadian utility to contribute cash to benefit Maine electricity consumers. Governor Paul LePage’s administration may be pushing Hydro-Quebec on the point, although details of the effort are murky.

The 145-mile, high-voltage transmission line would…

The state's energy-efficiency experts promote the latest versions for winter heat, if they're installed and used correctly, to reduce fossil-fuel emissions. But some installers say it's best to use them any time but winter.

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/28/hot-and-cold-on-heat-pumps-in-maine/

Click on your House district number below to jump to the responses from your local candidates, which are being published unedited. Don’t know what your district number is? Search for the name of your town; we’ve included maps for each district to clarify towns that are divided into multiple districts.…

One generation of elites forced open-pit mining onto southern Appalachia, and another is forcing grotesque wind turbines onto northern Appalachia. The connection is powerlessness, and the belief of one group of people that they have the right to destroy the homeland of another group of people. We are a dumping ground, and no one will hear our voice........

The Big Dipper and Orion, each in their season, have climbed above the hills of dozens of home valleys, to be seen by…

- Mills would rescind LePage’s ban, and is supportive of well-sited wind projects to cut fossil fuel demand.

- Moody’s position is more in line with LePage. He expresses concern for visual impacts around the Moosehead and Rangeley lakes regions, for instance. “We can’t be shortsighted in promoting the wind industry at the expense of our tourism industry,” he says.

- Caron says he wants to “move carefully,” gaining a better understanding…

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

- Globally, $2.4 TRILLION per year required for renewables

- The high cost of being a ‘Good Neighbor’ to Big Wind

- Are Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants Less Expensive Than New Gas, Wind or Solar?

- Enough Hysteria, Madness and Mobocracy: We Need Energy Solutions

- The Reality of Industrial Wind Power

- Is Renewable Energy a Fraud?

- Anti-Wind Turbine Activism Is Sweeping Europe—and the U.S.…

The events set the stage for the first of four meetings starting Friday at the Maine Public Utilities Commission, one of the regulators that must approve the New England Clean Energy Connect project.

“The hearings that start Friday are to hear from and ask questions of the witnesses from the parties in the case,” said Harry Lanphear, the commission’s administrative director. The witnesses and intervenors formally applied for…

Last Year’s New England Winter Was Brutal on the Energy Grid. Get Ready for Worse.

Posted to Energy October 17, 2018 by Michael Graham

The New England region will be the hardest hit—right in the wallet– due to the region’s disproportionate reliance on home heating oil. The EIA anticipates that propane prices will remain flat, electricity costs will rise 3 percent and natural…