Energy News Roundup: February 11-February 17

This week in regional energy news …

• Maine’s Good Will-Hinckley School has installed 110 solar panels, which are expected to save the school $112,000 over the 40- to 50-year life span of the panels.  Good Will-Hinckley is a high school focused on agriculture, forestry education, and workforce skills.
• Doaktown, a village in New Brunswick, voted Thursday to ban shale gas exploration near the village’s water sources.
• With the price of renewable energy credits going down due to oversupply, Massachusetts is one of many states reviewing its Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, emissions cap.
• Cape Wind has entered into an electricity supply agreement with NStar for energy from the offshore wind project, but seeks additional financing.
• Public Service of New Hampshire, or PSNH, is warning of higher electricity prices if it is forced to sell off its generation assets.

Energy News Roundup: January 28-February 3

This week in regional energy news . ..

• The developers of Clifton’s Pisgah Mountain wind farm have entered into an agreement to sell capacity to Bangor Hydro.  
• This week the Coast Guard held meetings in Lubec and Easport regarding tidal projects in the Down East region.  
• Efficiency Maine is accepting applications for electricity efficiency and generation projects.  Commercial entities, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations may apply for projects ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per facility.
• In an about-face, Public Service of New Hampshire now opposes selling off its generation plants in that state.

Energy News Roundup: January 21-January 27

This week in regional energy news …

• New Hampshire’s Senate passed a bill that would prohibit a utility’s use of eminent domain for an electrical transmission line across a person’s property if the line is not critical to the region’s power needs.
• The Passamaquoddy Tribe plans to launch a $120 million wind farm in Washington County with co-venturer Exergy Development Group, of Boise.  
• Estimating that its energy may not be available before 2015, ISO New England opted not to include Cape Wind in a capacity auction for 2015-2016.
• Two Department of Energy reports have highlighted Maine’s potential to generate more than 15 terawatt-hours per year of electricity from tidal sources.
• Augusta, Maine, is looking to create energy from waste at its Hatch Hill landfill.  The project would involve constructing a $20 million plant to convert the trash to diesel fuel.
• University of Maine professor Habib Dagher played up Maine’s offshore wind potential and discussed the $20 billion project to bring offshore wind to Maine.

Energy News Roundup: January 14-January 20

This week in regional energy news …

• NGL Energy Partners LP announced on Monday an agreement to purchase North American Propane’s assets in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.  NAP has over 50,000 customers.
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pushes for more Canadian control and say over the Keystone DL pipeline.
• On Wednesday, New Hampshire’s Senate delayed its vote on a bill that would create problems for the Northern Pass transmission project’s efforts to acquire land by eminent domain.
• First Wind’s petition to expand its Oakfield wind farm to 50 turbines from 34 won the unanimous approval of the Maine DEP.

Energy News Roundup: January 7-January 13

This week in regional energy news …

• Cape Wind may face delays that prevent it from reaching its 2015 target for initial generation of electricity.
• A two-year renewable energy biomass plant project in Connecticut will receive $225 million in financing from the Carlyle Group and SAIC.
• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has withdrawn the state’s request for a review of NStar’s rates in advance of that state approving a merger between Boston-based NSTar and Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities.
• Dead River Co. will purchase the home heating division of Webber Energy Fuels, with approximately 100,000 accounts.  Both are Maine companies.
• Gestamp Solar, of Spain, has purchased a solar farm in Southern Vermont.  The $10 million purchase is for the development’s 2.2 MW of capacity.

Two New Maine Wind Power Projects Commence Commercial Operations

The 22-turbine Record Hill Wind project in Roxbury, Maine and the 10-turbine Spruce Mountain Wind project in Woodstock, Maine have just commenced commercial operations.  Record Hill Wind, developed by Brunswick-based Independence Wind, has a nameplate capacity of 50.6 megawatts.  Spruce Mountain Wind, built and operated by Patriot Renewables, has a nameplate capacity of 20 megawatts.  Both projects are now generating and selling electricity into the New England power grid.  Together, the projects will generate enough electricity annually to power some 30,000 Maine homes.  In other Patriot Renewables news, the Massachusetts-based developer was recently recognized for its charitable donations to community organizations in the River Valley area of Oxford County, Maine.  

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.