A guide to energy developments in Maine
The face of energy projects in Maine is always changing, as developers announce new projects and others wave the white flag.
Here’s a status update on the projects making news these days:
EXISTING PROJECTS:
East Millinocket: Katahdin Paper Co., biomass boiler .
Bethel: Maine Energy Systems, wood pellet and boiler sales
Bethel: Maine Eco Pellet Heating LLC, wood pellet boiler manufacturing
Mars Hill: First Wind, 28-turbine wind farm
Stetson Mountain: First Wind, 38-turbine wind farm
Vinalhaven: Fox Islands Wind, three-turbine wind farm
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
Kibby Mountain: Some turbines at this 44-turbine wind farm by developer TransCanada are operating. The company downsized an extension on nearby Sisk Mountain to 11 turbines after state regulators expressed initial opposition.
Portland: Ocean Renewable Power Co. expects to connect its first commercial tidal turbine generator to the grid by the end of 2010.
APPROVED PROJECTS:
Bangor: The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a Bangor Hydro Electric investment of nearly $8 million in Smart Grid infrastructure, expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
Orrington: Central Maine Power Co. received approval from state regulators for its $1.5 billion transmission line upgrade, which includes building a 345-kilovolt line from Orrington to Eliot. The project is expected to take around five years to complete.
Eastern Maine: Gov. John Baldacci and New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham in 2009 announced plans for a Northeast Energy Corridor between Maine and Canada. After a task force review, the Legislature this year passed a bill that sets up a process for reviewing lease deals on energy corridors.
Lincoln: Construction on First Wind’s 40-turbine Rollins wind project, which will stretch through Lincoln, Burlington, Lee, Winn and Mattawamkeag, is slated to begin by fall 2010. A group opposing the project has lost two Supreme Judicial Court appeals.
Oakfield: The DEP in January approved a 34-turbine wind farm here, built by First Wind. A date for construction of the project has yet to be determined.
PROPOSED PROJECTS:
Millinocket: Rockport-based RE-Gen LLC has proposed a $20 million factory that would manufacture Italian biomass furnaces, with hopes to begin construction in 2010. Earlier this year, the company won a federal tax credit of more than $900,000 for the project.
South Portland: The Maine Renewable Energy Consortium last year unveiled its preliminary plan to build a $60 million bioenergy plant that would generate electricity from wood chips, but has not yet submitted plans. In January, the organization won a $1 million grant from Efficiency Maine.
Wiscasset: Tronto developer Transmission Developers Inc. has proposed a $1 billion high-voltage underwater cable that would transport renewable energy generated in Maine to Boston.
Houlton: Maine Public Service Co. has submitted an application to ISO New England for a 26-mile transmission line from Haynesville to here that would connect its network to the rest of Maine and New England. The 345-kV line would be privately funded.
Calais: In July, the city approved developer Calais LNG’s site plan for a liquefied natural gas terminal, but the company has twice asked the state to push back hearings on the project until it can line up a financial backer to replace investor GS Power Holdings LLC, which backed out of the project. Should the company fail to find another investor, it plans to pull its application.
Robbinston: Developer Downeast LNG expects to win final federal approval for an LNG terminal here this year.
South Portland: This city is considering creating its own energy company and establishing a 25-megawatt natural gas power plant.
Saco: GridSolar, a Portland company looking to install hundreds of acres of solar panels across the state as a rival proposal to CMP’s transmission line upgrades, brokered an agreement with Saco officials to build panels on city-owned land in summer 2009. CMP will work with GridSolar to explore non-transmission alternatives in the midcoast and Portland areas.
Pleasant Point: The Passamaquoddy Tribe was awarded a $120,000 grant in 2008 by the federal government to install a turbine and test the tidal power in waters off the reservation.
Wiscasset: FERC has issued a preliminary permit to the town and the Chewonki Foundation to study tidal currents for a potential power project and underground transmission cable.
Wiscasset: Toronto developer Riverbank Power Co.has proposed a $2 billion underground hydropower station that would generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity.
Yarmouth: A California inventor has pitched testing his technology that would use effluent from the town’s wastewater treatment facility on the Royal River to produce hydrogen and other gases as a clean energy source.
Carroll Plantation: First Wind is planning to file an application with state regulators this fall for a 25-turbine wind power facility in the area of Bowers Mountain in Carroll Plantation and Kossuth Township.
Rumford: First Wind is again looking into putting 19 wind turbines along Black Mountain here and in Roxbury, after scrapping the project last year when tests showed wind speeds would be too strong.
Monhegan Island: Last October, the energy department chose the University of Maine as one of three universities in the country to receive up to $8 million to fund its offshore wind test center off Monhegan Island, one of three state-selected test sites. UMaine is planning to design and deploy two 10-kilowatt and one 100-kW floating turbine prototypes.
Moscow: The Penobscot Nation has purchased a 1,274-acre site here and is considering developing wind and water power.
STALLED PROJECTS:
Millinocket: The Katahdin Paper Co. mill here has been idled since 2008 with the hopes of installing a biomass boiler and restarting, but so far, owner Brookfield Asset Management has been unable to find a partner to run it. In July, Patriarch Partners, owner of Old Town Fuel & Fiber, announced it was in the early stage of exploring a purchase of the mill and its sister facility in East Millinocket.
Burnham: San Diego-based International WoodFuels LLC delayed construction of a $20 million wood pellet manufacturing facility here until the fall of 2011, citing market conditions and access to financing.
Pleasant Point: Quoddy Bay LNG in 2008 withdrew its state permit application for a terminal, after FERC dismissed its application. Since then, the company has been sued by two Massachusetts firms for nonpayment of environmental and engineering services provided.
Rockland: Ascendant Energy in April announced plans for a $5 million solar panel manufacturing facility, but has not yet found a location for it and as a result delayed applying for Community Development Block Grant funding until next year.
Roxbury: A 22-turbine wind farm here, developed by Record Hill Wind, a venture between Wagner Forest Management and former Gov. Angus King’s company, Independence Wind, isn’t expected to go online until 2011 due to low energy prices. In August, the PUC approved a line upgrade to support the project.
SCRAPPED PROJECTS
Carrabassett Valley: The Legislature last year killed a bill that would have moved ahead the town’s proposal to annex Redington Township, which would allow developer Endless Energy Corp. to bypass Land Use Regulation Commission approval for a $180 million wind farm the commission has twice rejected.
Mindy Woerter, Mainebiz E-news editor, can be reached at mwoerter@mainebiz.biz. Mainebiz intern Lara Cole contributed to this report.
Mainebiz web partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments