If all goes according to a developer’s plan, the unorganized territory west of Bridgewater will soon be home to New England’s largest wind farm.
The American division of Madrid, Spain-based EDP Renewables has applied to build a 250-megawatt wind farm with as many as 119 turbines in T9R3, an area nine miles west of Bridgewater.
In 2013, EDP Renewables secured power purchase agreements with the electric utilities Connecticut Light and Power and United Illuminating, both in Connecticut.
Now, the company is going forward with its first foray into Maine, hoping to get approval from the Department of Environmental Protection within six months and to start construction in 2016
While the DEP reviews the project, EDP Renewables is still going through local town permitting and working with Emera and Central Maine Power to build a 50-mile transmission line, said project manager Kellen Ingalls. That transmission line would use the “Bridal Path” right-of-way between Houlton and Haynesville to connect the project to the regional grid and ultimately send power south.
With 250 megawatts and up to 119 turbines, the Number Nine wind farm would rival Maine’s largest wind project, SunEdison’s still-in-construction 185-megawatt farm near Bingham. It would join the Mars Hill wind farm and the Oakfield project, also still in construction.
EDP Renewables is pitching the project as a boon for greater Aroostook County.
The Number Nine wind farm “will contribute significant economic benefits to the surrounding community in the form of payments to landowners, local spending, and annual community investment,” the company said on the project’s website.
As many as 300 people would be employed during construction, and approximately 16 full-time workers could be employed directly by EDP Renewables. The company has been in touch with the wind power training program at the Northern Maine Community College, Ingalls said. “We’re excited to have that kind of resource to pull from.”
The company is also pitching a $2 million benefits package for local residents that would be targeted at helping pay for energy efficient upgrades like new heat pumps, with the goal being to reduce residents’ heating costs, Ingalls said.
