Wind power firm envisions turbines atop Mars Hill peak

Plans for Maine’s first wind farm are moving forward, and energy production atop Mars Hill Mountain could begin as soon as November 2004.

Earlier this month, Evergreen Wind Power LLC filed an application with the state Department of Environmental Protection to place 33 turbines along the Aroostook County mountain’s ridge.

Photo simulations of how Mars Hill might look crowned with windmills show 389-foot-high white towers, topped with three blades, each about 126 feet long, spinning far above the wooded hillside.

“These things are tall and graceful,” Mars Hill Town Manager Ray Mersereau said Monday.

Huge images of the proposed project, one stretching to 6 feet long, have been available in the town office for residents to see, and Mersereau himself toured a similar development on the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec. He’s excited about the potential for further development and tourism in his town.

“We’re the first [in Maine] of this kind of development. People will come and see it,” he said. “It should be beneficial – not just to Mars Hill, but to Aroostook County in general.”

Mersereau predicts that the town’s tax revenue could increase by as much as half when the $68 million project is finished. Town officials are also hopeful that the wind farm will attract additional development.

“You could say we are developmentally challenged here in Mars Hill,” Mersereau said.

Mars Hill’s town government has been working with Evergreen for three years. The Town Council voted its support, and, in fact, the town is listed as a co-applicant on DEP documents.

However, all of the funding for the $68 million project is coming from Evergreen. The company has secured financing from a Connecticut-based company called Fortis Capital Corp., which focuses on energy developments, according to the application.

But that funding hinges on congressional reauthorization of a tax credit for wind energy. That reauthorization isn’t at all certain.

While all four members of Maine’s congressional delegation support reauthorizing the tax credit, which expired at the end of 2003, it was part of the Energy Bill that was defeated late last year. Washington insiders say now that lawmakers are pursuing several options, which include attaching the tax credit to a less controversial bill, or passing it independently.

Evergreen is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Massachusetts-based wind power developer called UPC Wind Partners LLC, which is involved with dozens of projects in seven states and Canada, and has its roots in a successful European wind development company.

According to its application, Evergreen has been testing wind speeds on the ridge since the summer of 2002, and deemed Mars Hill the best choice for its first Maine project. Several other locations have been researched, and additional wind farms may be proposed if Mars Hill goes well, Peter Gish, who serves as managing director for UPC and secretary for Evergreen, said Monday.

“It’s a good wind resource in an area that’s already partially developed, and the town has been very supportive,” Gish said.

The wind farm’s 33 General Electric turbines would begin running when wind speeds reach about 7 mph, and would shut down automatically when winds hit about 55 mph. The turbines run at full output – about 1.5 megawatts apiece – at wind speeds between 18 and 55 mph, Gish said.

The turbine generators are designed in such a way that sensors and internal computers shift the blades to follow the wind direction, then turn the blades so they cannot catch the wind and stop turning when the wind is too fast. Though the turbines can withstand winds of 100 mph or more, safety and wear and tear on the machinery encourage a cessation of energy production at high speeds, Gish explained.

Since the blade speed tops out at about 22 rotations per minute, the turbines’ noise levels and danger to migratory birds are also vastly reduced from earlier types of turbines, according to the application.

The entire project, which includes 7 miles of road and more than 5 miles of underground power lines, covers 116 acres. Each turbine’s footprint, however, has a diameter of just 15 feet, according to the application. Six of the turbines will be located in the headlands of potato fields, but are not expected to interrupt farming, Mersereau said.

The mountain is not known to be crucial to bird migration routes, and though nearly 70 types of birds have been spotted in the area, most are common species, the application said.

Maine Audubon generally supports the idea of nonpolluting wind power, but needs to review the specifics of the Mars Hill project before taking a formal position. Any development can have a negative impact on wildlife habitat, so Maine Audubon wants to be sure this project is in the least harmful location, said Jody Jones, a wildlife ecologist for Maine Audubon.

The International Appalachian Trail runs alongside and through the proposed site of the wind development. Trail supporters don’t oppose the project, however, and concede to the wishes of landowners who agreed to allow both the trail and the development, according to Maine spokesman Dick Anderson of Freeport.

“We’re guests on their land,” he said Monday, adding that the trail runs alongside the Gaspe wind farm and there have been no conflicts there.

Evergreen already has signed lease and easement agreements with more than a dozen Mars Hill landowners, and the total rent for the properties is expected to exceed $100,000 per year, Mersereau said.

“That money is going to drop right into the local economy and circulate,” he said. “It’s a real windfall.”

Late last week, the Mars Hill Wind Farm application was deemed complete by DEP officials who have said that the proposal does not appear to violate state environmental rules. No hearing will be held on the project unless a member of the public requests such a hearing by Feb. 19. For more information, or to request a hearing, contact the DEP at 941-4570.