Wind Power News: Maine
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Sale of Hancock County wind farm project puts it on fast track toward completion
A Canadian investment firm has acquired the roughly $150 million Weaver Wind project in Hancock County and intends to begin installing turbines on the state’s newest wind farm in February. The land-based wind farm project, which has been in planning stages for five years, is scheduled to be up and running by October 2020. It will comprise 22 turbines and is expected to produce 72.6 megawatts of wind energy, enough to power 15,000 to 20,000 Maine homes annually. The developer . . . Complete story »
Maine utility regulators approve tests for floating wind turbine project off Maine coast
Maine’s Public Utilities Commission has approved a project that will test a floating platform that will hold up to two wind turbines, near Monhegan Island. Earlier this year, Maine’s Legislature passed a law requiring the PUC to approve the University of Maine’s Aqua Ventus project – and the University of Maine recently received a grant of about $5 million to help develop the platforms. The Aqua Ventus project could add to Maine’s economy by bringing more research and development dollars into . . . Complete story »
‘A whole new industry’: N.H. to work with neighboring states on offshore wind in Gulf of Maine
New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts will work together on large-scale offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. Stakeholders from the three states met today in Manchester talk about the possibilities and obstacles for that new industry. The event was hosted by the Environmental Business Council of New England at the state headquarters of Eversource, which is developing several large offshore wind projects elsewhere in the Northeast. Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the state’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs, said . . . Complete story »
UMaine secures $5 million grant for wind turbine development
The University of Maine was awarded roughly $5 million this week to continue development of a floating platform to support up to a 12-megawatt wind turbine. The grant, announced Wednesday, was awarded to the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, which already has developed two similar platforms capable of holding smaller, 6-megawatt turbines planned for deployment off the coast of Monhegan Island as a demonstration project, Maine Aqua Ventus. The University of Maine was among the 13 projects that received . . . Complete story »
Gov. Mills wants Maine carbon-neutral by 2045. What will that take?
AUGUSTA – Gov. Janet Mills made a surprise announcement when she addressed world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last week: She had issued an executive order pledging that Maine will be carbon-neutral by 2045. The pledge followed commitments enacted by the Legislature this spring to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050, moves that will require swapping fossil fuels for solar, wind and hydro-powered alternatives, from . . . Complete story »
Fed funds will go to UMaine wind energy, mass timber programs
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved an energy and water funding bill that includes support for several research and development projects at the University of Maine. The bill is expected to provide funding for UMaine’s offshore wind energy demonstration project, Aqua Ventus, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Also included is support for a program to create energy-efficient, high-rise mass timber building systems. Collins is a senior member of the Appropriations . . . Complete story »
Commissioners divided on Hancock Wind settlement
ELLSWORTH – In a split vote Tuesday, the Hancock County Commissioners agreed to settle with Hancock Wind over the amount of community benefit funds the wind farm has been issuing to the county. Commissioners Bill Clark and John Wombacher voted in favor of the agreement. Chairman Antonio Blasi voted against. Community benefit funds, which are required by Maine law, are an annual payment the company makes to Hancock County for the public good based on the wind farm’s revenues. Hancock Wind . . . Complete story »
Hancock County reaches settlement over wind farm payments it said were too small
Hancock County has reached a preliminary agreement in a dispute with a wind energy firm over community benefit payments that the firm had agreed to make to the county. The county filed suit in the fall against Hancock Wind, a subsidiary of Novatus Energy, after the company made annual payments to the county that were less than what the county expected. With the tentative agreement, which was reached after the parties went to mediation last week, Hancock Wind can continue . . . Complete story »
Hancock County, wind firm head to mediation over $38,000
Hancock County is at odds with the developer of a local wind farm over about $38,000 that the county says the developer owes in community benefit payments. Hancock County commissioners are meeting Thursday in Bangor with representatives of Hancock Wind, owned and operated by Novatus Energy, to see if they might work out a deal. Hancock Wind is a 17-turbine installation in the Unorganized Territory northeast of Ellsworth that was erected in 2016. The lawsuit was filed last fall after . . . Complete story »
State utility regulators approve power contract for planned Hancock County wind farm
State regulators have approved a long-term power contract for a wind energy development planned for Hancock County. The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Friday unanimously supported a contract under which Emera Maine will pay Weaver Wind LLC 3.5 cents/kWh with increases of 2.5 percent annually, commission officials said in a release. Weaver Wind is a 72.6 megawatt wind-to-energy project being developed by Longroad Energy in the Hancock County towns of Eastbrook and Osborn. The project – which had stalled under prior . . . Complete story »
