In a bid to defuse opposition and avoid conflict with Maine’s fishing interests, Gov. Janet Mills proposed a series of actions Monday to advance a floating wind research project planned for far offshore in federal waters, while protecting the near-shore waters valued for lobstering and coastal tourism. 

January 15, 2021

Shortly after the New England Clean Energy Connect project to bring Quebec hydropower to New England received its final major permit Friday, expecting to begin construction on the $950 million transmission line soon, a federal appeals court hit the brakes on the most controversial part of the line.

The court granted a temporary injunction sought by opponents ordering the company to stop work on the entirely new section…

The significance of Madison County’s rejection of Big Wind goes beyond Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway, and Iowa. Since 2015, by my count, 291 government entities from California to Maine have rejected or restricted wind-energy projects. 

It’s nearly impossible to build wind projects in California. Between 2013 and 2019, the state …

In court papers Monday, the developer says access road plowing started Monday and construction is expected to begin on or about Jan. 18.

After three years of dispute and debate, and despite ongoing court challenges and a pending voter referendum, work is finally set to begin to create a 54-foot-wide path for hydroelectricity from Quebec that ultimately will be earmarked for customers in Massachusetts.

In court papers filed late Monday, the president and…

Excerpts:

Over the next few years, solar energy farms will be popping up across Maine, which has no specific rules for where such projects should be sited.

SOLAR VERSUS WIND

It’s too early to say whether large-scale solar development in Maine will bring about the broader public pushback that accompanied the expansion of commercial, land-based wind power in the 2010s. But it’s a cautionary tale.

The Maine Wind Energy Act of 2008 set up an…

NIMBY’s are making more noise than wind turbines

NIMBY’s (Not-In-My-Backyard) around the globe from Germany to Australia, California, New York, and Massachusetts are speaking loudly, and acting, to put a halt to the invasion of noisy wind farms in their backyards. Following numerous reports from Maryland to…

A 72.6-megawatt Hancock County wind energy farm, which twice failed to get developed, is now operating and online.

Fengate Asset Management, a Toronto-based investment firm and the current owner of the Weaver Wind project, made the announcement last week in a news release.

“Fengate is very pleased the Weaver Wind project is operational,” said Greg Calhoun, Fengate's managing director. “This project provides a new source of clean, reliable energy for Maine and is a significant…

PORTLAND, Maine —

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report Tuesday raising questions about the creation of offshore wind energy.

Issues raised by the GAO, a nonpartisan federal agency that provides information to Congress, stem from the Jones Act which requires certain commercial ships to be built and registered in the U.S.

The Mills administration says…

A proposal to purchase Maine’s two investor-owned electric utilities and replace them with a state-owned power delivery authority has stalled due to lack of support.

In July, Maine State Rep. Seth Berry (D-Bowdoinham) introduced a bill in the legislature to allow for the state to transition to a consumer-owned utility, but ultimately the bill was amended to instead create a task force to study the issue. The legislation, LD 1646, was approved 8-1 by the committee, but the bill died…

Meet The Dutch Climate Refugees Fleeing ‘Unbearably Noisy’ Wind Farms

The first Dutch climate refugees are a fact. Not because of wet feet, but because citizens cannot cope with the noise of wind farms.

Residents close to biomass power stations also complain bitterly. Are health and the environment in the Netherlands subordinate to our climate goals? “I do see a similarity with the Groningen gas and the Limburg…

Mills Administration Releases Report on Strengthening Maine’s Clean Energy Economy

Maine’s bold renewable energy and climate change policies are supporting economic growth and workforce demands in thriving clean energy industry, new report finds.

A new report from the Governor’s Energy Office and Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future offers a detailed analysis of the…

Maine’s largest-ever procurement of renewable-power contracts was hailed in September as a historic step on a path to reaching ambitious climate change goals. But today, those contracts are under fire from two dissatisfied developers.

The developers question whether the selection process was flawed, whether customers will get the lowest possible rates and whether some of the winning projects could be delayed or never…

The project in Sherman would be New England’s largest wind project, right in the shadow of Katahdin.

The second developer, Clearway Renew LLC, challenged how the PUC scored the projects. It maintained that its entry, called County Wind, had a superior price and climate impact and should have won a contract. Clearway also has filed a broad Freedom of Access Act request in an effort to see confidential pricing information and learn how projects were scored,…

Heather Richards and Arianna Skibell, E&E News reporters

Published: Friday, October 30, 2020

In the new year, the first offshore wind farm in the United States will shut off its turbines, and its customers on nearby Block Island in Rhode Island will revert to diesel generation.

The rocky saeabed around Block Island has been worn away by tides and storms, sometimes exposing high-voltage cables in a popular swimming location that developers failed to bury deep…

What is their role in net-zero emission future

Bruce Mohl Oct 29, 2020

THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Public Utilities on Thursday ordered the state’s natural gas utilities to jointly hire consultants and come up with a way to dramatically phase down or eliminate their businesses over the next 30 years.

The order is a response…

Dive Brief:

Rhode Island will open a competitive request for proposals to procure up to 600 MW of new offshore wind, Governor Gina Raimondo, D, said Tuesday.

In January, Raimondo issued Executive Order 20-01 with a target of meeting 100% of Rhode Island's electricity demand with renewable energy by 2030, the earliest such state target in the country. The 600 MW of offshore wind when combined with existing commitments, would allow the state to meet about 82% of its estimated 2030…

October 26, 2020 by Kate Cough

CLIFTON — The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved contracts for 17 renewable power projects on Sept. 22, including a 20-megawatt (MW) wind farm known as Silver Maple Wind in Clifton and a 100-MW solar project in Hancock known as Three Rivers Solar.

The PUC approved a contract for SWEB Development’s Silver Maple Wind that includes two options: one where the company sells the electricity it generates for $34.30 per megawatt hour…

by Caitlin Andrews October 15, 2020

Central Maine Power and its parent have filed a complaint alleging a competitor opposed to its $1 billion hydropower corridor has illegally obstructed the project by refusing to complete upgrades necessary to connect the project to the regional grid.

It is no secret that NextEra Energy Resources, a large Florida-based utility that operates a clean-energy business in Maine and New Hampshire while also owning the oil-fired Wyman Station plant…