DEP asks First Wind for financial assurances
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is asking Boston-based wind power developer First Wind to prove it has enough money to complete four major projects in Maine worth $1 billion.
The Portland Press Herald reported the request is in response to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling last month that invalidated the company’s joint venture with Nova Scotia-based energy company Emera Inc. The newspaper reported the projects in question had millions in funding from Emera, money that First Wind can no longer use.
The projects in question are First Wind’s Oakfield Wind project in Aroostook County, Hancock Wind in Hancock County, Bingham Wind in Somerset County and Bowers Wind in Penobscot and Washington counties.
Jessie Logan, a spokeswoman for the DEP, told the newspaper that the court’s ruling puts into question financial capacity assurances the company had to provide to state regulators to demonstrate it had enough money for constructing, maintaining and restoring sites after wind farms go off line.
John Lamontagne, a company spokesman, said the company last week closed on a bond to raise $75 million from institutional investors. He did not disclose if the company would offer more bonds.
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