Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland and U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, Honorary Chairs of the NewDEAL, recognized Cote for his efforts to grow progress by making clean energy more affordable for Maine’s homes and businesses. Cote joins House Minority Leader Emily Cain as the second NewDEAL Leader from Maine.
 
“Senator Begich and I have joined the NewDEAL because we believe we need to look for fresh ideas not just from the top down in Washington, but also from the bottom up, where innovative leaders like Adam Cote are developing and testing their ideas out on the ground,” said Governor O’Malley, Honorary Co-Chair of the NewDEAL.
 
“In communities throughout the country, rising state and local leaders such as Adam Cote are proving that you can be both pro-growth and progressive. The NewDEAL is designed to foster these types of ideas and these types of leaders,” said Senator Begich, Honorary Co-Chair of the NewDEAL.

“I am proud to be recognized by the NewDEAL for my work to make clean heating affordable for all Mainers and help our country move toward energy independence,” said Cote.
 

“Going for the 2012 ballot was always a race against the clock. Despite the incredible enthusiasm from the public and from hundreds of campaign volunteers, the clock was just a little too fast for us to hit the deadline for the 2012 ballot,” said David Farmer, spokesperson for Maine Citizens for Clean Energy.

The Coalition averaged about 3,000 signatures a week, beginning in November, and collected 28,000 on Election Day alone. Signature gathering efforts will continue.

“This is a powerful demonstration of public support for the clean energy policies in this initiative that would reduce energy costs over time and help curb our dependence on imported foreign fuels,” said Farmer. “As today’s deadline approached, we concluded that we didn’t have enough of a margin to be confident about qualifying for 2012. One more week likely would have been enough. We’re that close.”

The initiative would increase the amount of new renewable electricity sold in Maine from 10% to 20% and ensured that electric utilities invest in all cost-effective energy efficiency to reduce costs for consumers. Numerous studies completed in recent weeks indicated that the initiative would create thousands of jobs, reduce energy costs and decrease Maine’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Today is the deadline for signatures to be submitted for an initiative to be on the November 2012 ballot. To appear on the ballot, the group needs to have at least 57,277 signatures verified by the Secretary of State’s Office.

“The people of Maine clearly are speaking out in favor of a clean energy future for Maine. Everyone understands that the status quo is unsustainable and harms our economy,” said Farmer. “The last three months have shown that Maine people want policies that increase Maine’s energy independence by spurring investment in low-cost energy efficiency and clean, made-in-Maine renewables.”

Ocean Renewable Power Co. wishes to deploy five turbine generator units for its Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project.The area for the proposed site is between Goose Island and Seward Neck. A permit for the pilot project is pending with federal regulators.

The Coast Guard wants to hear from trawlers, draggers, and others whose activities could cause underwater entanglements. It is an important community meeting and testimony could determine the fate of the permit.

“Our energy status quo isn’t working,” said Herb Sargent of Sargent Corporation. “Every year, Mainers hand over billions of hard-earned dollars to out-of-state and foreign energy companies. The initiative put forward by Maine Citizens for Clean Energy would help to change that. It would create jobs by investing in energy efficiency, which would help lower electric bills, and it would attract new clean energy businesses to our state. It’s a practical idea that will help put thousands of Mainers to work.”

The goals articulated by the Governor of creating jobs and lowering energy costs can best be achieved through the citizen initiative to invest in energy efficiency and made-in-Maine renewable energy. Above all we need to reduce Maine’s dangerous dependence on imported energy sources to ensure our long term prosperity.

This initiative builds off the success of Maine’s existing programs and aims to increase the amount of Maine’s electricity supply that will come from new “made-in-Maine” renewable resources, such as solar, wind, hydro and tidal, by increasing incrementally the percentage of new renewable resources of electricity sold in Maine. In addition, the bill requires utility companies to invest in energy efficiency for Maine people and businesses whenever it would reduce energy costs for ratepayers. Energy efficiency is the lowest-cost energy resource available and is a proven approach for lowering energy costs. Passage of the initiative would ultimately result in lower electricity costs for Maine rate payers, a common goal throughout the state.

“This is a market-based solution that will increase competition among power companies and drive down costs for consumers,” said Jeremy Payne, Executive Director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association. “All renewable energy technologies are eligible, and the policy encourages competition among energy technologies that will help Maine become more energy independent, create jobs and diversify our sources of energy.”

An analysis by ENE (Environment Northeast), a nonprofit organization that conducts research and analysis on environmental challenges with respect to the economy, examined the costs and benefits of the full initiative, and found that Maine residential ratepayers will ultimately have lower electric bills if this initiative is approved.

In addition, increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy resources in Maine will reduce air pollution. “By using energy more efficiently and producing more electricity from clean and renewable resources, we can reduce air pollution that triggers dangerous asthma attacks and other lung diseases,” said Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

More than 500 volunteers have been collecting signatures since last November to place this initiative on the ballot this coming November. The deadline to submit those signatures to the Secretary of State is Jan. 30.

Additional background:
Maine Citizens for Clean Energy began collection of signatures statewide in November 2011 to place a ballot initiative before voters in November of this year. To place the question on November’s ballot, the coalition must collect more than 57,000 valid signatures.

Current law requires electricity providers to get 10% of their energy supply from new renewable resources by 2017.

The initiative increases the renewable resource target to 14% in 2017 with incremental increases, ending with 20% by 2020.

The initiative also ensures that the Public Utilities Commission identifies and captures energy efficiency opportunities that are cost-effective.

“Maine’s wave and tidal current resources offer real opportunities to generate renewable energy using water power technologies in the future,” said Energy Secretary Chu. “Together with new advances and innovations in water power technologies, these resource assessments can help to further develop the country’s significant ocean energy resources, create new industries and new jobs in America, and secure U.S. leadership in an emerging global market.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released two nationwide resource assessments showing that waves and tidal currents off the nation’s coasts could contribute significantly to the United States’ total annual electricity production, further diversify the nation’s energy portfolio, and provide clean, renewable energy to coastal cities and communities. These new wave and tidal resource assessments, combined with ongoing analyses of the technologies and other resource assessments, show that water power, including conventional hydropower and wave, tidal, and other water power resources, can potentially provide 15 percent of our nation’s electricity by 2030. The reports represent the most rigorous analysis undertaken to date to accurately define the magnitude and location of America’s ocean energy resources.

These resource assessments can help to further develop Maine’s ongoing efforts in tidal technologies, create new jobs and secure Maine’s leadership with Ocean Renewable Power Company, and the University of Maine, in an emerging global market.

Maine was one of the top states for tidal-current power potential, preceded only by Washington state and Alaska. The coast south of Eastport and south of Cross Island were highlighted as spots with larger power potential, according to the report on tidal power. Though the figures are based on some theoretical data, Maine’s tides could generate up to 675 megawatts of total tidal power.

Ocean Renewable Power Co. plans to install its full-scale tidal turbine unit in Cobscook Bay off Eastport over the next two years. ORPC has projects in Alaska and Nova Scotia in the works. Another company, Tidewalker Associates, is seeking investors for a tidal-power project off Eastport.

The United States uses about 4,000 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year. DOE estimates that the maximum theoretical electric generation that could be produced from waves and tidal currents is approximately 1,420 TWh per year, approximately one-third of the nation’s total annual electricity usage. Although not all of the resource potential identified in these assessments can realistically be developed, the results still represent major opportunities for new water power development in the United States, highlighting specific opportunities to expand on the 6% of the nation’s electricity already generated from renewable hydropower resources.

The two reports—”Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy ResourcePDF” and “Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United StatesPDF”—calculate the maximum kinetic energy available from waves and tides off U.S. coasts that could be used for future energy production, and which represent largely untapped opportunities for renewable energy development in the United States.

Earlier this year, DOE announced the availability of its national tidal resource database, which maps the maximum theoretically available energy in the nation’s tidal streams. This database contributed to the “Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United StatesPDF” report, prepared by Georgia Tech.

The wave energy assessment report, titled “Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy ResourcePDF,” was prepared by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), with support and data validation from researchers at Virginia Tech and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The report describes the methods used to produce geospatial data and to map the average annual and monthly significant wave height, wave energy period, mean direction, and wave power density in the coastal United States. NREL incorporated the data into a new marine and hydrokinetic energy section in their U.S. Renewable Resource atlas.

In addition to the wave and tidal resource assessments released today, DOE plans to release additional resource assessments for ocean current, ocean thermal gradients, and new hydropower resources in 2012. To support the development of technologies that can tap into these vast water power resources, DOE’s Water Power Program is undertaking a detailed technical and economic assessment of a wide range of water power technologies in order to more accurately predict the opportunities and costs of developing and deploying these innovative technologies. The Program is currently sponsoring over 40 demonstration projects that will advance the commercial readiness of these systems, provide first-of-a-kind, in-water performance data that will validate cost-of-energy predictions, and identify pathways for large cost reductions.

These resource assessments, techno-economic assessments, and technology demonstration projects are critical elements of DOE’s strategy to capture the very real opportunities associated with water power development, and to further define the path to supplying 15% of the nation’s electricity through water power technologies.

DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invests in clean energy technologies that strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. DOE’s Water Power Program is paving the way for industry and government to make sound investment and policy decisions about the deployment of renewable water power technologies by quantifying the nation’s theoretically available water power resources.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. today about the potential for tidal and wind energy off the Maine Coast. Pingree talked about recent reports detailing the potential for tidal power off the Maine coast.

Last week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu released a report detailing the enormous potential for tidal energy off the U.S. coasts.

“Maine’s wave and tidal current resources offer real opportunities to generate renewable energy using water power technologies in the future,” said Energy Secretary Chu. “Together with new advances and innovations in water power technologies, these resource assessments can help to further develop the country’s significant ocean energy resources, create new industries and new jobs in America, and secure U.S. leadership in an emerging global market.”

“There is enough there to meet up to one-third of the country’s energy needs—and he singled out Maine,” said Pingree on the floor of the House.

Pingree also talked about a recent proposal by the Norwegian power company Statoil to build a pilot project of floating wind turbines about ten miles off the coast near Boothbay.

“Experts say up to 15,000 jobs can be created in my state by offshore wind—good paying American jobs that will help us regain our energy independence,” said Pingree.

Dr. Dagher explains more about Maine's offshore wind long term plan that will bring 15,000 jobs per year to the state

One of those experts is Dr. Habib Dagher who is leading the effort based at the University of Maine in Orono. In 2009 Dr. Chu, along with Governor John Baldacci and the congressional delegation, visited the laboratories at UMaine that are doing the research for offshore wind floating platforms. The visit resulted with a DOE grant for the project. Baldacci helped to spearheaded the innovative job creator with Dagher. Maine’s congressional delegation have promoted the project in D.C.

Dagher said, “There is unlimited wind off our coasts and we are developing the technology to bring it to Maine, and beyond. We need to become less dependent on foreign oil. The $20 billion project to build a floating wind farm 20 miles off shore will allow the state to sell electricity to our neighbors. We’ll export it. The potential is huge.”

Next year the first UMaine prototype floating wind platform will be deployed off Monhegan Island.

Maine sends $5 billion a year out of state to pay for oil and gasoline, much of which could be kept in state if the state has a diverse energy portfolio.

A federal order issued last fall is intended to make it easier to construct transmission lines.

This federal order could help the Maine realize its offshore wind potential. Until the order grid managers who plan transmission projects have focused almost exclusively on “reliability” — whether such projects would help keep power flowing when demand is high. Part of the new FERC order mandates that managers also must plan transmission that helps states meet policy goals, such as increasing renewable power use.

The New England states are among 32 nationwide that set voluntary goals, some mandatory, to increase reliance on renewable energy sources. Much of this work in New England was set in motion by the Baldacci administration. Gov. Baldacci hosted a summit of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers to discuss energy in the region. They set goals and made agreements to work together to transform the region into an alternative energy hub, making all residents less dependent on oil.

For example, Massachusetts must get 15 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Massachusetts law also requires the state to make an 80 percent reduction in total emissions by 2050. New Hampshire, must obtain about 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025.

The requirements have created a need for more renewable power.Wind is New England’s most abundant source of it.

According to a 2010 ISO New England report the region’s land and ocean winds are plentiful enough to supply nearly a quarter of its power by the end of the decade- as long as those winds are tapped. And the region’s best winds are in some of its most isolated areas— off the coast of Maine.

With the new federal order building transmission lines isn’t all about reliability anymore. Which means building the grid to get Maine’s offshore wind to market has become a realistic priority for the federal government. ISO New England, managers, and regulators should focus more than ever on reaching that offshore wind renewable power.

The costly gird got some powerful backers with the federal order. Now more investors should feel confident on putting their funds into Maine’s offshore wind project.

Maine has now received $39,981,695 from LIHEAP this season, which is drastically lower than the amount it received last year. Michaud recently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to request $5.1 billion for LIHEAP’s budget next year, which is a level that would represent full funding for the program.

“This funding is needed, but it’s not enough,” said Michaud, who’s working with New England’s congressional delegation on a bill to address LIHEAP’s funding shortfall. “President Obama needs to request full funding from the start so that Congress is less likely to move forward with another deep cut to this critical program.”

A complete HHS list of additional LIHEAP funds available to states today can be found here .