Bangor Hydro-Electric Company's parent, Emera, Inc. of Nova Scotia and British-owned National Grid have filed a letter of intent to lease the 176-mile right-of-way along Maine's I-95 and Route 295 from Orrington to the NH border. This corridor, which is being called The Northeast Energy Link, would bring power from Maine's remote wind power plants as well as from maritime Canada, to markets in MA and CT via 5"-diameter underground cables.
Read the full story in the Portland Press Herald or in Mainebiz.
On October 5, 2012, Maine's Public Utilities Commission asked Statoil North America to revise its proposed term sheet to show greater assurances that Maine will reap long-term benefits from the 12MW Hywind Maine pilot offshore project. This follows a September 17 letter from Statoil Vice-President Lars Johannes Nordli, which provides economic analysis by UMaine Professor of Economics Dr.Todd Gabe, showing positive impacts of a commercial, offshore wind power facility in the Gulf of Maine.
The Amtrak Downeaster train from Portland, Maine to Boston, Mass. has once again broken its former ridership record, according to a report released last week. Ridership on the line grew by 4.3%, to more than 541,000 passengers in the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2012. The service is due to expand to Freeport and Brunswick in November, 2012.
Pelletco, a company which offers complete composite wood and grass pellet fuels and boiler systems for commercial and industrial heating/processing, has been given a grant from the Association of Cleantech Incubators of New England (ACTION). While the company plans to keep its base in Orono, where the company and its technology were developed, the grant has enabled them to establish a sales office in the Newburyport CleanTech Center, one of ACTION's 13 incubators in New England.
Green Energy Maine is pleased to announce the results of our drawing, held at the 2012 
Blue Sky East, a subsidiary of First Wind, has recently completed construction of a 19-turbine power plant in Township 16, an unorganized territory in Hancock County. Once inspected and connected to the grid, the plant is expected to generate 34 megawatts of power. A second phase of the project would add 17 more turbines in Townships 16 and 22.
On September 13, 2012, Bangor Hydro Electric Company verified that electricity is being delivered to their power grid from Ocean Renewable Power Company’s (ORPC’s) Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project near Eastport, Maine. This signifies the first electric power in the US that has been generated from tidal power and directly suppied to the public power grid.
Residents of Roxbury, Maine were happy to receive their property tax bills this year, perhaps for the first time ever. This was due to the 59% drop in their mil rate caused by the "windfall" revenues of $610,000 that the town received from the Record Hill Wind project.
