CMP Ratepayers United, which has demanded that the state conduct a more thorough investigation into customers’ complaints of inflated CMP bills, also has been invited to join the lawsuit, said Sumner Lipman, the founding partner of Lipman and Katz.

CMP Ratepayers United has more than 4,800 members.

About 97,000 Central Maine Power customers‘ monthly bills increased 50 percent or more in December, January or February over the same month a year earlier, according to information…

Gov. Paul LePage’s lawyers asked a judge Friday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the governor’s executive order to halt wind turbine permits in western and coastal regions of rural Maine.

Advocacy groups challenged the constitutionality of LePage’s January order, claiming it’s causing uncertainty in the wind industry. A judge in Cumberland County heard arguments Friday.

LePage’s executive order says no wind turbine permits are to be issued…

The full papers from Ms. Linowes can be downloaded at the links below.

June 20, 2018 - Part 1

Texas Public Policy Foundation released the paper “Texas Wind Power Story: Part 1 – How Subsidies Drive Texas Wind Power Development,” which shows that the growth of the wind industry in Texas is spurred by, and only viable because of subsidies such as the production tax credit, along with tax breaks at the state and local…

Greenwood to schedule meeting on commercial wind farms

July 10, 2018

GREENWOOD — Selectmen are expected to schedule a special town meeting to decide on proposed amendments to the town ordinance governing commercial wind…

"If we would like to see investments avoid Maine, moratoria and unfair and unreasonable treatment of the wind industry is the best way to do that," Payne said.

Maine had its own renewable energy targets in place in order to send positive market signals to investors, Payne said, but they are not enforceable.

Even a short moratorium could still have longer term impacts, "because it sends market signals" of unreliability and uncertainty, ACORE's Foley…

The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday agreed to expand the scope of the investigation into Central Maine Power Co.’s high bills.

Liberty Consulting Group of Pennsylvania at the end of May started an audit of CMP’s new metering and billing systems following hundreds of customer complaints about high bills.

In their ruling today, PUC Chairman Mark Vannoy and commissioners R. Bruce…

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Wind and Solar Require Massive Subsidies

Renewable energy seeks demand, investment to survive Trump squeeze

Technical Experts: Wind Turbines Pose “Significant Danger” To Environment

Video: Wind Turbine Infrasound

Even ‘clean’ and ‘green’ energy have an environmental impact

Energy development: free market purists vs the state

The Electric Power Struggle

Two…

California to Arizona sounds like Mass to Maine.

Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer is financing the initiative through his NextGen Climate Action group, which supported similar efforts in Nevada and Michigan. But only the Arizona measure spawned a political battle, with the Republican-controlled Legislature passing a rule to help insulate utilities and the parent company of the state's largest electricity provider bankrolling opposition…

The company has provided few details so far about the project, which is part of a $214 million effort to improve the power transmission system throughout Greater Portland, including substation proposals in Freeport, North Yarmouth, Cumberland, Gray and Portland.

The plan to upgrade what’s called the Cape Substation comes as the city tries to control development in its increasingly popular waterfront neighborhoods, including a 2014 ban on loading crude oil into tankers that the…

The Heat Wave Sent U.S. Power Demand Surging to Highest in Years

No new wind farms have started up in Maine since 2016 and no new applications are pending. Politics is just one reason why. Developers must secure power purchase agreements, typically with utilities in southern New England. They also need firm transmission connections to the electric grid. Both are presenting challenges today....................

Opponents were buoyed by LePage’s stance and hope to influence the next governor. One group, Friends of Maine’s…

Shawn Moody

“It’s important that we embrace new technology, but we cannot subsidize special interest groups and harm Maine’s viewscape, just to benefit the profits of a few.”

Janet Mills

Mills said she strongly supports wind energy in Maine and wouldn’t extend LePage’s ban on new development.

Alan Caron

Caron would “proceed more cautiously” on land-based wind.…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The wind and solar industries hope demand for carbon-free power from U.S. cities, states and corporations can offset headwinds from President Donald Trump’s tax policy and tariffs, developers said this week............“More and more corporations and consumers are saying ‘We want 100 percent renewable energy,’” she said, adding city and state governments are adopting renewable-friendly policies to reflect that growing demand................Meanwhile, the industry is…

At a time when the U.S. newspaper industry is most often described as “dying” and “decimated” and publishers agree that “flat is the new up” with regard to profitability, a lot of eyes are on Maine.

They’re looking here, not because the picture is significantly brighter but because Maine’s newspaper industry is now unlike any other in the country. There’s not another state that has a single individual owning the majority of its daily newspapers, as is suddenly the case here.…

Avangrid Inc. says storms are increasing in frequency and intensity, as it learned in Maine’s October 2017 windstorm, which left hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark for days.

Michael West, an Avangrid spokesperson, says the company is responding with a 10-year program to improve the system’s resiliency.…

QUESTION

Renewable energy sources like wind and large scale solar benefit Maine’s wildlife by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but can also bring negative outcomes, including bird mortality and habitat degradation. How would you balance the benefits of renewable energy with wildlife and habitat impacts?

RESPONSE

Balancing the environmental benefits and impacts is the role of the environmental review process, handled through DEP…

The Lewiston City Council unanimously approved the Central Maine Power company’s plan for a clean energy DC to AC conversion station.

It will be located near the power substation in north Lewiston.

[CMP inks deal crucial to $950M plan to pipe hydropower…

New land-based wind development in the region has slowed, challenged in part by uncertainty over transmission line connections and competition between state clean-energy mandates. The real action is happening offshore, where Northeast states are cutting deals for giant wind farms.

In Maine, specifically, new wind development has largely stalled, held back in part by political opposition and technical challenges.............................. In northern and eastern Maine, a lack of new…

A multimillion-dollar project that would bring hydroelectric power from Quebec to Massachusetts through Maine received an official nod of support from the City Council last week, as Lewiston is set to become a centerpiece of the proposal.

The Central Maine Power Co. project, known as New England Clean Energy Connect, or NECEC, received unanimous support from the council because of its potential tax impact for Lewiston.

The project would channel 1,200 megawatts of energy…