AUGUSTA – Developers of the Redington Wind Farm, whose plan for 30 turbines on two western Maine mountains was rejected by state regulators earlier this year, said they will submit plans for a scaled-back project as early as this week.

In January, the Land Use Regulation Commission voted down a plan calling for 18 turbines on Black Nubble Mountain and 12 on Redington Pond Range.

In their revision, the developers will propose removing all 12 turbines from the taller, more environmentally sensitive Redington Pond Range, said Endless Energy Corp. President Harley Lee. Lee told LURC about the new plan last week and said a letter outlining it would be sent soon. Endless Energy is one of the developers.

Black Nubble Mountain, with 18 windmills, is farther away from the Appalachian Trail and has a less environmentally sensitive habitat. Lee said the new plan also calls for conservation protections on Redington.

While the original project would have provided peak capacity of 90 megawatts of nonpolluting power, environmental groups opposed it over concerns about its impact on a sub-alpine habitat that is also a home to rare or endangered species.

The revised plan is close to one advanced as a compromise last summer by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. It called for 18 turbines only on Black Nubble Mountain.

At the time, the council said that would reduce the environmental impact on one of Maine’s most prominent stretches of high-elevation mountains. It noted that Redington Pond Range is the only Maine mountain besides Sugarloaf that is higher than 4,000 feet and not protected from development.

Wind project developers said when the scaled-back plan was advanced last summer that the one-mountain project would deter investment and effectively kill the project.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine said it supports the revised plan.

“This is the best solution, given the broad interest of Maine people to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to also protect wild places,” said Pete Didisheim, NRCM advocacy director.

But Maine Audubon said it’s premature for a new plan to be considered. LURC staff members have yet to complete their “findings of fact” on why the previous proposal was inappropriate, said Jody Jones, Maine Audubon wildlife ecologist.

“The main concern is we believe that it’s essential that the current process be allowed to play out,” she said.

At least two other large wind farms are being proposed in Maine, and the 28-turbine Mars Hill project started producing power earlier this year.