You can also make yourself more marketable by earning a degree in Crime Scene investigation check http://bit.ly/3fyWG4

You had me there until you said stable price and reliable supply. Our price of electricity is already 40% higher than the rest of the nation. Wind is not reliable. Hydro and bio mass ,which are being closed down for wind, are reliable.

The parent company of UPC has connections to wind farms in Italy...which are currently being convicted for ties to the Mafia. Building wind farms that are not used. Sound familiar? Stetson I ...now Stetson II...Kibby...how many more until Mainers say enough. The Justice Dept. needs to investigate ME state govt. for the massive fraud connected with the wind farm corporation, First Wind. The clock is ticking. Time to print the truth in our newspapers.

Correction ...UPC is First Wind's parent company.

josegiles13..So funny!!!!!!!!!!!

Does Libya teach CSI courses?

noname: it seems your arguments are proving thin when it comes to reliability for wind. See below:

"In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Spain set quite a record: The country got more than half its electricity from wind farms, a first for a country long invested in renewable energy. Between 4:30 and 6 a.m., Spanish wind turbines took advantage of a particluarly windy day to generate 53% of the electricity coursing through the grid. Spain had never gotten more than 43% of its juice from wind power before. It suddenly had so much wind power, it had to export some electricity. Yes, that’s an amazing feat. For years, one of the knocks against wind power is that it can only provide a certain part of a country’s electricity—25% or so—because wind power is too variable. So Spain’s windy Sunday seems to make U.S. visions of generating 20% of the country’s electricity from wind power sound a little less far-fetched."

Obviously, this was reached during a time of low demand (off peak), but that is exactly the purpose for wind energy in the US. The target is 20% by 2030, to reach off-peak demand and to provide for potential increasing use of plug-in electrics.

The issue we have in Maine is that 75% of our electricity is generated by natural gas - with price fluctuations causing havoc for the consumer. We have high prices in New England because of our current mix of generation. We're not building new hydro dams - we're not building new nukes - solar in Maine is great for heating water and for a small amount of electricity on the home scale. But it is far too expensive to comercialize here. Arizona is a different story - but even there, you need water for cooling, which is in extremely limited supply.

If you want more of the status quo, with prices rising every year, on average, then keep arguing against wind. The last study published by an independent economist projected $100 million per year savings by adding 800 MW of wind generation in Maine. Supply and demand still work. And wind has displaced nat gas in the case of 2 plants in NY. The trend would continue as long as people act out of knowledge, rather than fear and skepticism.

Stetson is producing power and selling it on the grid. Orrington has congestion issues, but the power is not blocked there. The customer buying the power seems quite pleased. Kibby is also able to sell power. If a wind farm can't sell its product (electricity), it won't be built. The finances don't work out without a customer. Period.

The save the whales crew is sure to make this idea go down the crapper.

I'm ready for a new next gen nuclear power plant to come on line, at 1000 MW +, that's 3X the power of the proposed off-shore wind farm... Build it in Monroe!

If we want to have REALLY high electric rates, let's build a lot of off shore wind in deep water. This is a pipe dream until the costs of building platforms comes way down, or the price of electricity goes way up. Years away . . . but a neat idea. Meanwhile, cost effective on-shore wind will dominate the mix for new renewables for the next couple of decades.

And folks in Spain and Portugal are SO interested in investing in the US market because we have a heck of a lot more wind resource than they do. And they have been making it work financially for 15 years.

Statements like Angus King's "Maine can be the Saudi Arabia of Wind" are as misleading as they are self-serving.

Thirty seconds spent looking at the Department of Energy's 50-Meter Wind Resource Map shows that our offshore wind is no better than most coastal states' wind, north of South Carolina here in the east or north of San Francisco on the west coast. And it's no better than large areas of the Great Lakes in or around Michigan and Wisconsin.

Simply google "50-Meter Wind Resource Map".

Once you start looking at the Maine wind map, you will quickly see that everywhere in Maine RIGHT ON THE SHORELINE downeast of Boothbay is regarded by the DOE as "Good".

But instead all focus LEAPPFROGS this shoreline area and looks to 20 miles offshore where the wind goes from "Good" to "Excellent", but the water gets much deeper and the technological challenges become geometrically greater. Of course, not a single wind "farm" has gone in the salt water. It's all just conceptual at this point.

Now, as the final bit of wind geography in Maine, look at the inland areas where installation of gargantuan wind turbines, mammoth transmission lines and service roads is not conceptual, but a reality. You can see where they are by looking at: http://www.nrcm.org/maine_wind_projects.asp

Next, taking note of the locations of the existing and planned inland sites, find them on the DOE wind map of Maine. Surprised?

All this talk of offshore when the Governor's "Expedited Wind Process" which he misled the legislature on is putting wind farms all over areas of inland Maine that are officially classified as POOR to MARGINAL.

The reason the wind companies can do this is they get free money from the taxpayer such as $114 miilion just GIVEN to First Wind, LLC or $295 miilion just GIVEN to Iberdrola as part of the stimulus package. By the way, each wind farm ends up with 2-3 permanent jobs. Some stimulus.

They also sell carbon credits even if no wind blows.

Windfuture: The Federal Trade Commission has issued new guidelines designed to set clearer rules for disclosure in social media influencer campaigns.

The guidelines state that bloggers who have received money or "in-kind payment" tied to product reviews must disclose such deals to readers. Companies that refer to a research group finding about a product must disclose any relationship with that organization.

The new rules are the first update the FTC has made to its guide for testaments and endorsements in advertising since 1980. They bring into sharper focus the relationship of bloggers and brands. The FTC chose not to make a distinction between professional bloggers and amateurs. It also does not differentiate between paying cash and providing product samples.

Violators face fines of up to $11,000 per infraction.

windfuture...go outside and stick your finger in the air. Is the wind blowing 25MPH? If not...and wind was your only means of power...you would have to shut down your electricals. Did you know that the wee hours of the morning are not peak load?

You say "As with any such new development, the review process will be thorough, as it should be."

I ask "Where have you been living?"

Let's look at Maine's recent history with regard to inland industrial wind projects. Governor Baldacci's "Expedited Wind Process" insures that almost any industrial wind project will be fast-laned to approval. The SOLE authority for approving wind permits is either the DEP or LURC depending on the proposed site. Counties, towns or citizens, no one is allowed to attach any conditions to a wind permit approval except DEP and LURC.

The site is officially rated as POOR to MARGINAL for wind by the Dept of Energy? NO PROBLEM!!

The applicant has a history of shady business dealings in other states? NO PROBLEM!

The applicants, LURC and DEP get to hand-pick which scientific studies they will accept and which they will disregard? NO PROBLEM!

Similar industrial wind projects are being decommissioned in Europe because they can't be economically justified? NO PROBLEM!

The 400' turbines will destroy Maine's pristine mountain ridges? NO PROBLEM!

Let's face it: If the Governor wants wind power at all costs, he will get wind power at all costs! There is no real scientific or econimic scrutiny of these projects. The review process has been anything BUT thorough and we have no reason to expect it will be different with offshore wind projects.

longtermthinker

First Wind does not have the money to build the wind farm being permitted? No problem.

Some grant will come along.

No room on the New England Grid for the wind farms already built? No problem.

We will say there is an urgent need to stop global warming . Must put up 1.4 billion dollars worth of transmission lines TODAY.

UPC/First Wind has it's roots in an Italian company that is being investigated. Former associates have been arrested for alledgedly collecting subsidies on unproductive wind plants. see news article here: http://www.windaction.org/news/24041

Below is UPC describing themselves to the VT Public Service Board (PSB) proclaiming that due to their complete involvement with IVPC, now being investigated in Italy, they have enough expertise to build the Sheffield project. The link is to the February 21, 2006 prefiled direct testimony of UPC in their application to the VT PSB for a Certificate of Public Good.

http://www.sheffieldwind.com/UserFiles/File/regulatory_sheffield/Cowan-Rowland-Vavrik%20-%20Direct%20Testimony.pdf

From the Prefiled Direct Testimony of Cowan, Rowland, and Vavrik - February 21, 2006

Quoting upc - "UPC Group is a group of related companies that have developed large scale wind farms in Europe. To date, UPC Group has developed, financed, constructed, owned and operated over 635 MW of large-scale wind turbine generators in southern Italy and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia through a company called Italian Vento Power Company (“IVPC”) (www.ivpc.com). Certain principals of the UPC Group recently sold their ownership interests in holding companies that own the IVPC companies. In conjunction with this sale, a new European subsidiary of UPC Group has been established and is pursuing several hundred megawatts of wind energy projects in Europe and North Africa, including additional projects in Italy.

The IVPC subsidiaries of the UPC Group achieved an exceptional operating record, with its wind turbines available 98.5% of the time on a fleet-wide basis. An extensive operations and maintenance organization was established for the Italian projects, consisting of over 120 personnel dedicated exclusively to the day-to-day management, operation and maintenance of the IVPC projects."

Also from the same testimony is the resume of former Enron employee, Steve Vavrik:

"I have 10 years of work experience in the energy field, concentrating on the financial aspects of power production and power sales. My past work experience includes: GE Capital, where I developed financial models for equity investments on energy projects, and Enron Europe and Dynegy, where structured long term power and fuel purchases and sales. My first wind project was for PPM Energy in Portland, Oregon, where I was responsible for green tag power sales of the 198 MW Maple Ridge wind project in New York State. Currently I am the Vice President of Risk Management for UPC Wind Management, where I am in charge of all power sales."

I'd like to have First Wind's permits, I'd get a wind farm up without having the big wind turbines. Raise the treeline with smaller vertical axis units that use permanent magnets and have a lower cut-in speed. Is better for scalability; instead of the large capital expense, the company sets up more as investment builds. With more equipment comes more jobs, better distribution to locales, and local manufacturing. I use to like the big wind turbine until I saw teletubbies, then I realized if Maine is to get more eco-tourism and the big white pin-wheels are not going to be a draw for the North Woods.

P.S. Agnus King is wrong. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Maine ranks below South Dakota and North Dakota. Together they can produce 77% of the nation's electricity through wind. Which would make those wide flat plains the Saudi Arabia of wind power. They don't like the wind turbines either; and, more importantly, don't have the transmission lines to send it back east.

, -Since when have you seen a wind turbine at ground height? Go stick your finger up 300' and tell me what the wind is like. Additionally turbines start generating at 3-5 mph, not 25. Try looking at the this link. I don't fully expect you to because it's coming from a proponent, but if you want to see the manufacturers handbook, here it is.

http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/wind_turbines/en/downloads/ge_15_brochure.pdf