TOWNSHIP 16, Maine — Nineteen turbines stood nearly 500 feet high into a sheer blue sky on Tuesday but barely turned their blades in the stiff autumn breeze.
Blue Sky East, a subsidiary of First Wind, has finished erecting 19 turbines on Heifer and Bull hills in this Hancock County township, not far from the Eastbrook town line, but the electricity-generating devices have yet to be hooked up to the power grid.
Eventually, there could be 17 more turbines erected in Township 16 and neighboring Township 22, according to a First Wind official. If the company seeks and receives approval for and then erects the possible additional turbines, there would be 36 in total in the two neighboring townships.
Dave Fowler, senior land manager for First Wind, said Thursday that the firm is considering whether it wants to seek approval for possibly four more turbines in Township 16 and 13 more in Township 22, which is the next unorganized territory to the north. If it does, he said, the company will have to go through the Land Use Regulation Commission all over again in order to get approval for them. First Wind has not erected any meteorological towers to test wind conditions where it thinks additional turbines might be viable, he said.
“It’s still in the early development stages,” he said.
First Wind originally had hoped to erect additional turbines in neighboring Eastbrook as part of the same project, which prompted the town to develop land use standards for commercial wind turbines. The company was unable to work out agreements with enough adjacent landowners to be able to extend the project into Eastbrook, however.
Meanwhile, the company has to get each of the 19 turbines recently erected in Township 16 inspected and approved by various government and private entities before they can start generating power. Each of the turbines stands 476 feet high at the highest tip of their blades and can generate 1.8 megawatts of electricity at maximum capacity. The overall project is expected to generate up to 34 megawatts of power into the regional distribution grid.
“There’s still significant inspection work that has to be done before we can flip the switch,” Fowler said. “If the wind is blowing at full capacity, they’ll be generating at full capacity [right away].”
Fowler said he hopes the turbines can be cranked up and “energized” sometime next week. The target day for having the turbines supply power to Bangor Hydro-Electric Co., he said, is Halloween. While finishing work on the turbines, the company also is working to finish loaming and seeding the disturbed soil around the turbines.
“We’ve had a good summer,” Fowler said. “We’re putting the final touches on the ground work. We’re almost there.”
Follow BDN reporter Bill trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
Oh, great news, more of an eyesore mess on Bull Hill. Just what we need to pay $100k profit to investors in order to ship electricity to Massachusetts, we don’t need it here. Let’s put up more of these monsters. Eastbrook was very smart to limit the spread of this mess. If you haven’t seen them, take a look, it is hideous. And when I’ve been by there the wind wasn’t blowing and nothing was happening but the 300′ tall monsters destroying the scenery.
Almost as ugly as all those cell phone towers that are EVERYWHERE–oh, wait….you like your cellphone, so — yup, their ugly presence is OK.
They don’t blast the tops off mountains, or set the cell phone towers on scenic remote mountains where there is no one around. No, the wind towers spoil the most beautiful and remote places in Maine that we have cherished for years for being just that.
Did you read what you just wrote before you sent it? If no one is around, then why do the wind towers spoil anything? As for cell towers, yes they ARE placed in remote places, PLUS they are located where people see them all the time–they are on highways that we drive on, sides and tops of mountains, etc. etc. They are VERY visible and ugly. You see them everyday, but be honest, when was the last time YOU personally saw a windmill in a remote place where you even said “no one is around”? By the way, what type of electrical power would you prefer–nuclear, hydro (which involves dams), coal, oil??? It appears that you want your cell phone, but don’t want the people of Maine or anywhere, for that matter, to have access to reduced electric rates.
We don’t use oil to make electricity. Were you aware of that Freddie?
freddie . . . Industrial Wind Sites are placed in places that are scenic and have been that way for many of us who enjoy the solitude and beauty of the NATURAL WILDERNESS. If there was just one tower, it would not be such a big deal. We have learned to live with the modern world. But when they put in a wind site, it amounts to 20-30 400 foot plus towers spaced every 600 feet, with flashing lights and strobes that ruin a night sky that used to rate a #1 on the Bortle Scale. They flash across the lake sometimes all at once, and sometimes out of sync every two seconds so there is always a red and white glow. The number of trees clearcut to make way for the turbines would sequester more CO2 than the windmills save.
We do not produce electricity from oil . . . and we have had dams in this state for 100 years, quietly and reliably producing electricity 24/7/365 at full capacity. Windmills only produce about 25% of the time, and it is a very thin electron stream that comes from their generation. That is why the grid has so much trouble processing their input. It rises and falls and they have to keep regular generating plants operating at reduced (inefficient) power to pick up when windmills suddenly drop power.
I would love to see nuclear, hydro or natural gas. A gas plant can be built with a fraction of the cost, a fraction the land and can be built next to existing transmission lines so the grid can remain in tact. A gas plant would provide real jobs, not temporary ones like the wind farms. Wind generated electricity is four times the cost of gas or hydro, and will remain that way for a long time. We can’t draw manufacturing or jobs to Maine if our power is that expensive. Wind has raised electric rates . . . oh wait, the media in the bag for wind has not reported that . . . but rates just went up almost 20% in July. Did you see that? It is only because of wind.
Very good points, Jim. You know your stuff. Thanks.
Nope. I dislike cell towers too. I do not own one and I do not like the practice of texting or yakking while driving. Maybe it’s just me…
To enroncrooks–actually my comments weren’t directed toward you. By the way, I like your on-line name…..you’ve got them pegged.
Republicans want the land stripped around Moosehead for the rich but don’t want small business and middle class families to have access to clean energy. No wonder Willard, Summers, Raye, and Mason are losing.
Gas is clean energy & isn’t a rigged liberal pipe dream wrought with corruption. Maybe you should support gas instead.
Yeah, lets make everyone buy new appliances, and convert their houses to gas heat. I’m sure the average Mainer will just love that. Now that is a pipe dream wrought with corruption.
Buying new appliances would be good for the economy. Converting houses to gas heat may not be necessary, power plants are gas fired. No corruption, just common sense.
It would be smart for them to convert to gas. It is about 1/4 the price of heating oil right now. You don’t have to buy new appliances, just have them converted.
“If the wind is blowing at full capacity, they’ll be generating at full capacity” (Fowler said).
That is about the most idiotic statement I’ve ever heard from a wind developer. And believe me, I’ve heard a lot! Tell me, Mr. Fowler, what exactly is the “full capacity” of wind? And can you give me an example of an industrial wind turbine anywhere on earth that is generating electricity at even 50% of its nameplate capacity? Of course you can’t because it’s never been done!
When will the media hold wind developers accountable for the statements they make?
Maine: IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP!! These windscam projects are destroying the beauty of Maine and it can never be replaced.
“The overall project is expected to generate up to 34 megawatts of power into the regional distribution grid.”
It will be lucky to get 20% of that.
The reporters know better but insist upon regurgitating the wind industry press releases. The question becomes WHY?
WHY? Because the liberal media is in the bag for the windscam projects, and Solyndra, and the new one that just got nearly $200 million for a $30,000 donation to Obama.
Greenwashing: companies and industries that pretend to “be green” in order to get enormous amounts of money from the government, but in reality, are more concerned with a jingle in their pockets than clean air and water for common folks to breath and drink.
The biggset greenwasher of all in Maine is NRCM who has taken tremendous “mitigation money” from the wind industry, is supposed to care about Maine and instead has consistently advocated for these useless and very harmful projects. They are a disgrace.
As they have in every case, once First Wind erects a new project in a new area, they start to expand it into neighboring towns. People, please wake up and pay attention to what is happening to the state of Maine. With Bull Hill they are just lining up leases for hundreds of turbines to mar more of our beautiful ridgelines. They will all generate at way below capacity, but each will generate cash from REC’s ‘virtual’ energy credits that they sell at nameplate capacity, not actual generating capacity. Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up, yet no one in the state government is acting to stop it! Heaven help us, and Heaven help the good people of Maine.
funny all these comments about wind towers being ugly, but no one complains about cell phone towers being ugly
Cell phone towers don’t smash birds.
would Jesus be for windpower or against it?
he would probably be in favor of nuclear power
An excellent query that you pose, Tanner… I think Jesus would be sad to see the ancient mountain tops hacked off for short-sighted gain and corporate greed. What do you think?
Cell phone towers are spread out over 7 – 10 miles, and are not nearly the height of wind towers.
Thank you King Angus…May we have another ?? My light bill isn’t high enough yet..(sarcasm INTENDED..)
Jim L could not have expressed my sentiments better..besides deforesting beautiful pristine areas leaving rubble and ruining habitat while slicing eagles and other birds and bursting bat wings these INDUSTRIAL monstrosities should not be allowed in a State that has banned billboards for scenic reasons- they make noise that is low frequency and illness inducing- First Wind is an awful company that could care less about ruining historic pristine highly ranked lakes like Mattawamkeag…for an inefficient costly technology..these are not the windmills of old.
and for caprountree..cell towers are ugly but not the size, sound, whirring killing capacity of wind towers put up in large numbers near each other..they are NOT in the same league at all.
Jesus would be against wind towers because he favored LIFE.
I wonder how many total industrial wind farms there are in Maine. The scope of these mega projects is astounding. I actually visited a wind farm last year and got lost on the mountain top for well over an hour!!! It was so enormous, and the path of destruction to site these was disturbingly shocking: Mountain tops with their ancient heads hacked off, tons and tons of trees clearcut and tossed to the side, the eerie silence except for the constant whrrrr, whrrrr, whrrr, whrrr, whrrr…. not a soul in sight. One would think that in this day and age, with our technological advancements, that we could find a new way to fuel ourselves, like with a simple solar panel on our homes – non-intrusive, personal, and wicked cheap (after the initial installation of course). But then how would these industrial corporations get rich?
Here is a link that will show you in real time how much electricity is being generated in Spain and what percentage is being generated by coal, nuke, gas, hydro, wind, etc.
https://demanda.ree.es/demandaEng.html
Wish there was something similar for Bangor Hydro or CMP. The facts about how much these windmills are actually producing seems to be hidden from the public here. At least I haven’t had any luck finding anything on the interweb.
And the wind companies will not tell you. I tried to get wind speed data from several and from the AWEA. They call it “proprietary ” info. Big secret. FirstWind claimed in their SEC application they do not even have to generate energy to make money. What a scam run by white collar crooks.
Google Hydro Quebec and see the electricty capacity there. Boston is insatiable. Wind is not GREEN nor dispatchable . Hydro is GREEN. Lift the 100 MW ban. Ban GRID scale WIND.
King Angus? He cracked the mother’s life force and then pours poisons in her wounds all the while killing her winged ones.
Wind Tower projects are of no benifit to Maine
This is nothing to be pleased about. Another beautiful place in Maine destroyed for First Wind to scarf up more taxpayer $$$. If the Production Tax Credit is ended, this company will go out of business and abandon those turbines. The PTC is $53.43 per MWH and it is what sustains the wind industry. We don’t need this form of electricity generation and it will not only destroy rural Maine’s “Quality of Place” but drive up our electricity rates.
This project never should have been approved. These 476 foot tall monstrosities are more than half as tall as the tallest building in New England, the 790 ft. tall Hancock Tower. Although it is beyond the arbitrary 8 mile scenic impact range, these will be clearly visible from many spots in Acadia National Park. Worse, this industrial site is just a few miles from Schoodic Mt., which we preserved with taxpayer bond money from the Fund for Land for Maine’s Future. Unfortunately, many magnificent places we have preserved with taxpayer money like Bigelow, Mt. Blue, the Mahoosuc Range, Tumbledown, and even Baxter State Park will become encircled with useless wind turbines if we don’t stop it.
Please go to search and enter Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power for more information and join the fight to stop this blight!
More $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for Angus King. Yuk.
FoulWind will erect towers everywhere regardless of wind speed. The Blue Hill area was rated at much less wind speed than Cadillac Mtn. which did not have enough wind for Fed approval. Funny how the facts get fudged when a bunch of lawyers are running the company, and these industrial monstrosities keep getting built. Not enough power and impacts too great. These developers are from out of state and couldn’t care less about Maine or clean air. They only want tax dollars.
In the comments here “The Binkster” had asked about finding production information on Maine’s wind projects. I attempted FOUR TIMES to provide a comment that would lead people to this information. FOUR TIMES the BDN censors deleted my comment. Is the BDN afraid of letting the citizens know how miserable the output of these tax subsidy machines are? Instead of censoring the citizens, the BDN owes the citizens an in-depth investigative report on this scam!
Anyhow, put in your search engine the following phrase and you will find the information on the Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power website. Search: First and Second Quarter Capacity Factors at Maine Wind Projects.
Because I had commentary that went with this, I will attempt to re-post the comment with no references to how to find the information.
In Reply to The Binkster:
You need to use the Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power to get information that the media will not provide due to their extreme bias in pushing industrial wind power in Maine. The production of all the large wind power sites in Maine is right here: TAKEN OUT TO GET PAST BDN CENSORS!
It is not easy information to come by, as you need to know where to go on the FERC website, find the data, extrapolate and analyze it. Fortunately CTFWP has financial analysts who understand the energy markets to do this.
The results are miserable. If they were good, you can be sure the PR machine of the wind industry would be crowing about it. In fact, the results are just as the citizens who have battled the proliferation of industrial wind have predicted. Roughly 25% capacity factor of unreliable, unpredictable, non-dispatchable power that is driving electricity rates up.
While you are at it, here is another link for public information gathered and posted on the CTFWP site: TAKEN OUT TO GET PAST BDN CENSORS!
The addition since that was posted is Angus King’s Record Hill Wind project was awarded a no-strings-attached gift of taxpayers money on 6/8/12 of $33.7 million.
Wind power is an expensive scam. It is environmentally destructive and all the points promoting it have been refuted as falsehoods and misinformation. Heinous ideologically driven mandates are going to send electricity rates sky high. It is time to put an end to this folly. Meanwhile, I hope all those wind turbine lovers appreciate the destruction of the views from Acadia National Park caused by this Bull Hill project.