Follow on TwitterBy the beginning of August, it was clear the Maine Department of Environmental Protection was going to deny First Wind’s permit application to build the Bowers Mountain wind project, a 16-turbine farm in Carroll Plantation and Kossuth Township in eastern Penobscot County.
But that didn’t stop the company from signing a long-term deal to provide electricity generated at the yet-to-be-built farm to Rhode Island residents and businesses. The company was confident enough that it would succeed in the state’s appeals process that it put up nearly $1.5 million, which it could lose if it’s not able to build the project.
The DEP’s staff on July 24 recommended that DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho deny First Wind’s application because of concerns over the impact the wind turbines would have on views from the area’s lakes. The official applicant is Champlain Wind LLC, a subsidiary of Boston-based First Wind, which operates four wind farms in Maine.
Nine days later, on Aug. 2, First Wind signed a 15-year deal with National Grid, a utility that supplies electricity to customers in Rhode Island and surrounding states, to have the Bowers Mountain project up and running by March 2017, and sending electricity to businesses and residents in Rhode Island at a cost of 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour. That price is competitive with other energy generation sources, though still more expensive than electricity coming from the region’s natural gas-fired power plants.
On Aug. 5, Aho followed her staff’s suggestion and denied First Wind’s application for a permit to build the Bowers Mountain project because it would have “an unreasonable adverse effect on the scenic character and existing uses related to scenic character” in the area, which includes eight lakes deemed Scenic Resources of State or National Significance within eight miles of the project site.
First Wind has appealed the decision to the Board of Environmental ..., which is a seven-member citizen board that is part of the DEP but has independent authority when it comes to things like deciding appeals of the commissioner’s licensing actions. That appeal is underway
PLEASE READ FULL ARTICLE WITH LINK ABOVE .
MONIQUE
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine