On May 21, 2013, the Pine Tree Watchdog published an in-depth report on a March 28 hearing before the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee on LD 616, which proposes to weaken some provisions of the Wind Energy Act of 2008 and restore more local controls over consideration of wind power facility applications in certain townships, plantations and Unorganized Territories. The committee has agreed to review the policy, which has streamlined the permitting of wind projects since 2008.
Read the full article on the Pine Tree Watchdog site.
Later this spring, UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center will test a buoy-based light detection and ranging system, or LiDAR, which can gauge wind speeds at up to 600' above the surface of the ocean. Data from the device can help to determine the best location for offshore wind turbines.
Two subsidiaries of Boston-based First Wind, Hancock Wind and Weaver Wind, have identified up to 57 new potential sites for wind turbines in Township 22 and Osborn in Hancock County. The companies have secured land leases for many of the sites but have done no assessments of their suitability for wind power development. No development proposals have yet been submitted to state authorities, and it is likely that only a small number will move on to that phase, according to the 
The Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine plans to place a one-eighth-scale prototype of a floating deep-sea wind turbine in the harbor off Dyce Head in Castine, sometime in April of 2013. The 20 kilowatt or 27 horsepower turbine, called "VolturnUS", was developed by professor Habib Dagher, who will build its components with engineering students. It will be shipped to Cianbro's facility in Brewer for assembly and thence towed by a tugboat from Maine Maritime Academy to the test site in Castine Harbor.
On Thursday, January 24, 2013, the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved Statoil's term sheet proposal to install four wind turbines 12 miles off the coast at Boothbay Harbor, in 460 feet of water. The vote was 2-1 in favor of the $120-million project.
Kenneth Fletcher has resigned his post as the Director of the Governor's Energy Office and Patrick Woodcock of Hampden, who most recently served as Senator Snowe's senior adviser for energy and environment issues will succeed him on January 7, 2013.
