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July 6, 2010

Tribe, First Wind pitch wind farms

By The Mainebiz News Staff

A former Air Force radar station in Moscow and land in eastern Maine are being considered as the latest potential wind farm sites.

The Penobscot Indian Nation is purchasing the 1,274-acre site of the former radar station in Somerset County after more than a year of consideration, Tribal Chief Kirk Francis told the Associated Press. The tribe is working with General Services Administration, the property owner, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to finalize the sale, and is considering developing wind power as well exploring ways to generate power using a water source. The Cold War-era radar site was shut down in 1997.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts-based First Wind, which has already developed some wind energy facilities in the state, is looking at a site in Carroll Plantation and Kossuth Township in northern Washington County, according to the Bangor Daily News. Operating as Champlain Wind, a subsidiary, First Wind would build a 25-turbine wind farm on 700 acres of timberland in the Bowers Mountain area, about eight miles south of First Wind's 55-turbine Stetson wind farm. The proposed wind farm would generate up to 57 megawatts of power, according to the paper.

The state's Land Use Regulation Commission on Wednesday will consider First Wind's request to reclassify the area under the state's expedited permitting process, which would allow the company to submit only one application for the project, according to the paper.

In related News, First Wind is again exploring putting 19 wind turbines along Black Mountain in Roxbury and Rumford, after scrapping the project last year due to tests that showed the winds would be too strong, according to the Sun Journal. Project Manager Neil Kiely did not specify details on the revived project, citing Rumford's wind farm moratorium.

Go to the article from the AP >>
Go to the article from the Bangor Daily News >>
Go to the article from the Sun Journal >>

 

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