MANCHESTER, Vt. – A proposed wind energy project for Little Equinox Mountain will go forward even though Catamount Energy Corp. has dropped out, the development’s other backer said.

Catamount executives said it decided to get out of the Equinox project because it was taking longer than expected and other larger projects provided better opportunities for the company.

Robert J. Charlebois, Catamount Energy’s managing director, called the company’s spending on the project a “bona fide effort.”

“I think everyone understands that we gave it a college try, as they say,” he said. “We have spent a considerable amount of time and resources on Equinox.”

Endless Energy Corp. of Yarmouth, Maine, will continue with the project, as planned, said Harley Lee, the company’s president.

Catamount Energy, a subsidiary of Central Vermont Public Service Corp., had spent more than $100,000 on the project, Lee said, adding that the exact amount is proprietary information.

The partnership went by the name Equinox Wind Partners and was the two companies’ only partnership for a wind project.

Endless Energy has the ability to pay for the entire project, even though Catamount is not involved, Lee said.

“One way or another we’re going to get the money for the rest of the development,” he said.

When the project is ready to be built, Endless Energy will join with investors to pay for the $12 million project, Lee said.

“We have many, many potential investors,” Lee said. “That’s actually the least of our problems.”

The project involves the construction of five 330-foot-tall wind turbines that could produce enough electricity to supply up to 4,000 homes. It has the backing of five environmental groups and will be at the same site as two previous, smaller, wind farms.

The two partners have been talking about splitting up for three to four months, Charlebois said, but the decision from Catamount to drop out was made “very recently,” he said.

“The decision was driven by our need to refocus our resources on other opportunities,” Charlebois said. The company’s other projects include ones in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and the United Kingdom, as well as one on Glebe Mountain in Londonderry.

Delays in moving the project forward also figured in to Catamount’s decision to drop its involvement, he said.