Energy News Roundup: December 3-December 9

This week in regional energy news …

• Statoil, a Norwegian energy company, is seeking federal approval for an offshore floating wind farm off of the Maine coast.  The four-turbine pilot project, which would be located south of Boothbay Harbor, could be operating by 2016 and generating 12 MW of electricity, if the application (PDF) is approved.
• The Concord Monitor has created a section of its Web site devoted to full coverage of the Northern Pass Project, which would bring 1200 MW of hydroelectricity from Canada to New England.  Recently, the State Senate Judiciary committee voted for new protections for property owners facing eminent domain taking but rejected legislation that would have attempted to prohibit projects like the Northern Pass from using eminent domain powers.
• Cate Street Capital, the new owner of the Millinocket and East Millinocket, Maine, mills, recently also purchased the exclusive North American rights to biocoal technology.  Biocoal is a wood-derived fuel that would replace coal-burning at electric plants.
• A proposed new propane import terminal in Searsport, Maine, has incited local opposition.
• According to ISO New England’s winter electricity demand outlook, the region should have ample electric production to meet demand, even in the event of any extreme winter weather.
• An ethanol plant in Prince Edward Island that would produce the technology to create ethanol from sugar beets retains the support of the provincial government even though the Alantec plant will be selling the technology rather than the ethanol product itself.
• An exploratory panel has recommended that Maine’s Land Use Regulatory Commission give Maine’s 16 counties more power over land use decisions.  Among the 12 committee members present (out of 13), the vote was unanimous.  Other recommendations include letting the governor nominate only three LURC commissioners, rather than seven, and letting counties take on minor permitting issues that are now handled by LURC.

Energy News Roundup: November 12-November 18

This week in regional energy news …

• Between 2004 and 2009 Maine residents cut their heating oil use by 45 percent.  Maine remains, however, the country’s most oil-dependent state for home heating.
• Anbaric Transmission, a Massachusetts company, has filed a request with ISO New England for interconnection of a proposed transmission line that would carry up to 2,000 MW of offshore wind energy to land.  The offshore generation projects that would interconnect with the line are each over 25 miles from the coastline.
• In an effort out of its Brunswick, Maine, office, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences reminds us of the naturally carbon-reducing power of trees.  The center’s new program, the Clean Water Carbon Fund, gives the public the chance to purchase trees for $6 to be planted along the shores of waterways that are overexposed to carbon.
• On Thursday, December 15, E2Tech will host a breakfast forum with Efficiency Maine representatives to discuss residential and commercial energy efficiency programs.  Event details are available at E2Tech’s Web site.

Governor's Energy Office Offers Web Resource for Efficiency Incentive Programs

The Maine Office of Energy Independence and Security is now providing information on energy-related grants for Maine businesses, nonprofits, government entities, and others in the state. 

The Web initiative, called Grants Connector, will serve as a resource for information on federal, state, and private energy efficiency incentives and programs.  OEIS will monitor federal and state legislative and regulatory actions, appropriations, and programs and compile the information at Grants Connector.  The initiatives may include investment tools relating to tax credits, rebates, low-interest loans, research and development, pilot programs, and more.  

The Grants Connector website will be updated monthly.  To receive an email notification of each update, email Jeff Marks.

OEIS is an arm of the Governor’s office and does not fund programs directly.