By Michael Shepherd, BDN Staff • January 17, 2020 3:49 pm

Updated: January 17, 2020 4:21 pm

AUGUSTA, Maine — A dark-money group that has aired ads opposing Central Maine Power’s proposed hydropower corridor was hit with a Friday ethics complaint by a political committee funded by the utility in a move that could force the group to disclose donors.

It’s the second ethics complaint in the nascent campaign over the $1 billion corridor that would take Hydro-Quebec power to the…

Ten former state environmental officials and advocates lend their support to Mainers for Clean Energy Jobs, a coalition of business and union groups that backs the $1 billion transmission line.

A coalition of business and union groups backing Central Maine Power’s $1 billion transmission line proposal has won the support of nearly a dozen former state environmental officials and advocates.

Mainers for Clean Energy Jobs – which comprises individuals,…

Lobbyists for clean energy industries are confident, despite some recent setbacks, that 2020 is the year Congress will pass tax incentive policies.

After spending most of the year lobbying the Senate and House to create a new tax credit for energy storage and extend credits for solar power, wind power and electric vehicles, industry representatives say they hope to continue the momentum from last year and try again.

“We’ve got all the pieces in place; now it’s time to just take…

...............Efficiency Maine, a state trust that oversees energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction programs, offers rebates for the purchase of electric vehicles, part of state efforts to incentivize growth.

“We’re certainly mindful that if those projections are right, then there will need to be more supply,” said Michael Stoddard, the program’s executive director. “But it’s going to unfold over a period of the next 20 years. If we put our minds to it and plan for it, then we…

January 8, 2020 by Johanna S. Billings

COLUMBIA — The wind may be blowing a new source of power into Washington County.

Apex Clean Energy, based in Charlottesville, Va., is developing plans for a wind farm in Columbia and land nearby in the Unorganized Territory, with hopes of completing the project in October 2022, said Paul Williamson, a senior development manager with the company.

The project, known as Downeast Wind, is proposed for 22,000 acres in Columbia and…

A commission that studied the potential for projects to store excess renewable power generated in Maine has recommended that the state set a short-term goal of reaching 100 megawatts of capacity by 2025 to send an important signal to investors and developers.

The non-binding target is modest compared with what states such as Massachusetts and New York are proposing, and it doesn’t commit any state money. Still, the proposal recognizes the “value and benefits that strategic investment…

The state's Land Use Planning Commission voted Wednesday to certify the 145-mile electric corridor proposed by Central Maine Power.

Maine’s rural land use regulators have approved a controversial transmission corridor proposed by Central Maine Power that would cut through more than 50 miles of wild North Woods.

The state Land Use Planning Commission voted 5-2 Wednesday to certify CMP’s $1 billion New England Clean Energy Connect as an accepted use in the areas it would be…

Video of tonight's select board meeting in Camden. The select board seems to feel it must do more to be green and apparently this includes wind power. My remembrance is that the onetime wind proposals for Ragged Mountain were dead. But apparently not. The photo below shows a select board member invoking the efforts of Greta Thunberg as motivation for Camden to do more.

Video of 1/7/20 Camden Select Board Meeting:…

The President recently signed into law a spending and tax bill that includes an extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) for one year. The bill also raises the value of the PTC to 1.5 cents/kilowatt hour.

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

AWEA Applauds Another PTC Extension

I thought the wind industry didn’t need subsidies any more?

The world is investing less in renewable…

The Land Use Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Jan. 8 to render a decision on the controversial power corridor.

In a Dec. 30 memo, staff from the Land Use Planning Commission said the power line, called New England Clean Energy Connect, is an allowed use in development districts as planned, as long as CMP follows plans to limit impact on wetlands and recreational areas.

In the protected Kennebec River Gorge and Appalachian Trail, CMP showed there were no…

AWED’s Newsletter is published at MasterResource every 3 weeks. Check here for recent issues. Due to multiple requests, we have created an …

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

It’s time to hit the off switch for solar, wind power tax breaks

U.S. House spending bill holds win for wind energy, setback for solar

Subsidized Wind, Noncompetitive Wind

Tax deal in hand, US spending package grows in size

Report: Financial groups gave $745 billion for 258 new coal power plants

The Renewable Fuel Standard is killing the environment

The Tiny, Simple Nuclear Reactor That Could…

By Josh Keefe, Maine Focus Reporter

December 23, 2019 6:00 am

On an unusually cold November night, Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, co-chair of the legislative committee charged with regulating the state’s utilities, stood in the auditorium at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham. Before a crowd of roughly 60 people, he explained his plan to seize control of the Maine electric grid from the state’s two largest electric companies and their foreign shareholders.

Berry introduced…

“Nobody here likes this". The turbines would be spread out on three sides of the 7,000-plus acre Great Heath.

Note that the Great Heath is the largest raised bog (or peatland) in the state of Maine.

Website for Downeast Wind's owner, Apex Clean Energy:

https://www.apexcleanenergy.com/leadership/

Apex…

North American Windpower - Michael Bates - December 20, 2019

The House passed a tax extenders package this week that includes a one-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for wind but failed to move forward an investment tax credit (ITC) provision for offshore wind power.

The House passed a tax extenders package this week that includes a one-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for wind but failed to move forward an investment tax credit…

Two national companies that operate natural gas plants in Maine are stepping into the fight over Central Maine Power’s power line proposal for western Maine. They’ve created a new political action committee supporting a potential ballot item aimed at killing the CMP project.

The new PAC is called Mainers for Local Power, and it will be funded by two Texas-based companies, Calpine and Vistra. Calpine owns a natural gas electricity generation plant in Westbrook, and Vistra owns one in…

House foregoes new tax credits for storage, offshore wind as it approves $1.4T spending bill

• The U.S. House of Representatives approved a broad spending bill on Tuesday extending tax credits for wind energy, which expire at the end of 2019, for another year. 
• The House had proposed a wide-reaching clean energy package of tax credits, including new incentives for energy storage and offshore wind, and extensions for electric vehicles…

Solar and wind bills, subsidies, mandates etc., brought to us by layer upon layer of dysfunctional agenda-driven government will create never seen before burdens on Mainers. These burdens will have the greatest effect on the folks who can least afford it.

Listen to today's important 14 minute WVOM audio for James LaBrecque's five year prediction of where electricity costs are headed. While each new bill, subsidy, mandate, etc. is always sold to Mainers as representing a supposed small…

General Motors and Tesla have been pushing for more than a year for extension of the credit, which phases out once an automaker hits 200,000 vehicles sold, and many lawmakers had been pushing to include the extension. The tax credit is aimed at defraying the cost of electric vehicles that are more expensive than similarly sized internal combustion engine vehicles.

Both GM and Tesla have already hit 200,000 EV sales. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who authored a proposal to…