An Act To Encourage Community Wind Power Projects
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1331
Committee: Utilities and Energy
Sponsors: MacDONALD

Legislative Document 
No. 1331 
H.P.939 
House of Representatives, March 12,2007 
An Act To Encourage Community Wind Power Projects 
Reference to the Committee on Utilities and Energy suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative MacDONALD of Boothbay. 
Printed on recycled paper 
'111~ frl.7!!~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 3S-A MRSA §3403, sub-§3 is enacted to read: 
3. Production incentive. The commission shall administer the Community Wind 
Energy Production Incentive Program in accordance with section 3405. 
Sec. 2. 3S-A MRSA §3403, sub-§4 is enacted to read: 
4. Community wind energy advisory office. The commission shall establish a 
community wind energy advisory office to provide technical assistance to potential 
developers of community wind energy projects, as defined in section 3405. The office 
shall, at a minimum, provide assistance with site identification, wind measurement and 
monitoring, facility design, technical feasibility analysis, economic feasibility analysis 
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and public outreach. 
Sec. 3. 3S-A MRSA §340S is enacted to read: 
§3405. Community Wind Energy Production Incentive Program 
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A. "Community wind energy project" means a locally owned electricity generating 
facility at anyone site with an instantaneous generating nameplate capacity of not 
less than 600 kilowatts and not more than 2 megawatts that is powered entirely by 
wind energy; 
B. "Class 3 wind resource" means a wind power density of 150 to 200 watts per 
square meter at a height of 10 meters or 300 to 400 watts per square meter at a height 
of 50 meters. 
C. 
"Locally owned electricity generating facility" means an electricity generating 
facility at least 51 % of which is owned by one or more individuals or entities located 
within the community where the facility is sited. Local owners may include, but are 
not limited to: 
(1) Local residents; 
(2) Local governments or political subdivisions, including, but not limited to, 
counties, municipalities, school administrative units, as defined in Title 20-A, 
section 1, and quasi-municipal corporations or districts, as defined in Title 30-A, 
section 2351; 
(3) Nonprofit corporations, as defined in Title 13-C, section 102; 
(4) Consumer-owned transmission and distribution utilities, as defined in section 
3501; and 
(5) Federally recognized Indian tribes, if the facility is sited on land owned by 
the tribe .. 
D. "Wind power density" means the amount of energy, measured in watts per square 
meter, available at a location for conversion into electricity by a wind turbine. 
2. 
Program established. 
The Community Wind Energy Production Incentive 
Program, referred to in this section as "the program," is established to provide production 
incentive payments to community wind energy projects. 
The commission shal1 
administer the program. 
3. Fund. The Community Wind Energy Production Incentive Fund, referred to in 
this section as "the fund," is established as a non lapsing fund into which must be 
deposited all amounts appropriated or al10cated to the program. The commission may 
seek and accept funding for the program from any source, public or private, to carry out 
the purposes of this section. 
The fund must be used by the commission to make 
production incentive payments to eligible community wind energy projects in accordance 
with this section. At the end of each fiscal year, al1 unencumbered balances in the fund 
account must be carried forward to be used for the purposes of the program. 
4. 
Eligibility criteria; application process. 
To be eligible for the production 
incentive payment under this section, a community wind energy project must: 
A. Be sited in a location with class 3 or higher wind resources; and 
B. Be interconnected with the electric power transmission and distribution system of 
the State. 
The commission shall prescribe an application form or procedure that must be used to 
apply for an incentive payment under this section. The application form or procedure 
must include any information that the commission determines necessary for the purpose 
of implementing this section. 
The commission shall determine whether a project 
qualifies for the incentive payment and respond in writing within 30 working days of 
receipt of a completed application. 
5. Incentive payment. Incentive payments to community wind energy projects must 
be made in accordance with this subsection. To the extent that funds are available in the 
fund, a community wind energy project that qualifies under subsection 4 is entitled to a 
production incentive payment equal to 1.5¢ per kilowatt-hour on energy generated by the 
project during the first 10 years of operation of the project that is sold by the project and 
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transmitted over the electric power grid. To the extent that applications for incentive 
payments exceed the funds available, the commission may establish a waiting list for 
incentive payments. Projects must be placed on the waiting list based on the date of 
application. A project that is not operational within 18 months of the application date 
must be removed from the waiting list. 
6. Purchase agreement; tariff. Notwithstanding any other provision ofthis chapter, 
a transmission and distribution utility shall offer a standard power purchase agreement, as 
defined by the commission by rule, and a standard power purchase tariff, as defined by 
the commission by rule, to any customer who agrees to construct, own and operate a 
community wind energy project in the service territory of the utility and requests 
interconnection with the utility's distribution system. 
7. 
Rules. The commission shall adopt rules to implement this section. 
Rules 
adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 
375, subchapter 2-A. 
SUMMARY 
This bill establishes an incentive payment of 1.5¢ per kilowatt-hour to qualifying 
community wind energy projects for the first 10 years of turbine operation on all 
electricity sold back to the electricity distribution system. The bill directs the Public 
Utilities Commission to administer the incentive payment program and to create a 
community wind energy advisory office to assist potential developers of community wind 
energy projects with site identification, wind measurement, feasibility analysis and other 
tasks required for project development. To qualify for the production incentive payment, 
a wind energy project must generate between 600 kilowatts and 2 megawatts of power, be 
locally owned, be sited in a location with a class 3 or higher wind resource, be 
interconnected with the electricity distribution system and have an agreement to sell 
power generated by the project. The bill requires transmission and distribution utilities to 
offer a standard purchase agreement and standard purchase tariff for power generated by 
community wind energy projects.