The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting on First Wind, Emera, etc

Now that First Wind and Emera have announced their joint venture to be both utility and generator (what many believed was against the law), we thought it might be helpful to summarize some of the writings on this from the non-partisan Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.

Multi-million-dollar wind deal approved by state regulators

By NAOMI SCHALIT AND JOHN CHRISTIE

Senior Reporters

April 11, 2012

State regulators on Tuesday approved a multi-million-dollar deal that could fund construction of hundreds of wind turbines in Maine and the Northeast, despite a staff recommendation to reject the proposal. All three members of the Public Utilities Commission voted for a complex series of transactions among First Wind, Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service and MORE

Meeting land-based wind goals not likely, say two state studies

By NAOMI SCHALIT AND JOHN CHRISTIE

Senior Reporters

March 29, 2012

Maine will not be able to accomplish the state-mandated goals of building 2000 megawatts of wind power on land by 2015. That’s one conclusion of two studies issued this week by the governor’s energy office and an independent group of researchers. The studies also urged reconsideration of the landmark 2008 law that allowed wind turbines MORE

PUC releases confidential transcript in wind energy case

By NAOMI SCHALIT AND JOHN CHRISTIE

January 31, 2012

A proposal for a joint venture that would undertake major construction of wind towers across the state and region has encountered more regulatory complications, a week after reports were published that state officials recommended the proposal be turned down. The state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was set to decide on Jan. 31 whether MORE

PUC staff: no-go for energy firms’ wind deal

By NAOMI SCHALIT AND JOHN CHRISTIE, SENIOR REPORTERS

January 19, 2012

Last April, Maine’s largest wind energy developer, First Wind, trumpeted a multimillion-dollar deal that would pay for the company’s ambitious plans to erect more wind turbines throughout Maine and the Northeast. But in just the last week, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) dealt a potentially fatal blow to the deal. Faced with what opponents MORE

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