OAKFIELD, Maine — After hammering out the details, First Wind has begun its construction of wind turbines in Oakfield.
Last Wednesday, First Wind hosted a celebratory ceremony and barbecue at the Oakfield Community Center.
“We have plugged into a fantastic community,” said Matt Kearns, vice president in the east for First Wind. “Everyone rightfully had a lot of questions. It did not end there. It will not end there. There will be a lot of back and forth until the final turbine is up and generating electricity and long after that.”
David Gordon, who is the president of Katahdin Forest Products, is invested in Oakfield and is a believer in wind energy.
“Wind power has been something I have believed in my whole life,” he said. “I have had a wind generator up on my house for the last 14 years. I believe it is the right thing to do, it is the right time to do it and Oakfield is definitely the right place.”
Gordon said he could not think of anything that could help the town more than the wind farm project.
“Our company wants to keep employees, get employees and keep them,” he said. “When they see these kinds of benefits, they are more anxious to work in the town of Oakfield and live in the town of Oakfield. That is a really big deal to us.”
Worldwide power generation is on everyone’s mind, but no one source can be the end all, as Gordon explained. In Japan after the tsunami, nuclear power plants were shut down. In China, people are wearing masks due to the air pollution caused by their coal-fired power plants and in the United States, seven years of drought has caused decrease generation from the Hoover Dam as there is little water remaining.
“What this country needs and what we have right here in Oakfield is part of that balance of power generation, which is extremely important,” said Gordon. “No one can foretell what is going to happen in the future. To have balanced power for this country makes it a much more stable place to have a business.”
Dave Fowler, director of development for First Wind, said construction began in December 2013 and involved hundreds of employees, predominantly sub-contractors, who had been busy building new roads, the electrical collection system and creating the bases for the turbines.
The first turbines will arrive in late spring of 2015. They will be shipped either from Denmark, Canada or the Midwest, Fowler said. The anticipated completion date is by the end of 2015.
Forty turbines will be located in Oakfield, with the remaining eight placed in unorganized territory. If the turbines were all placed in a straight line, it would encompass a five-mile stretch of land, Fowler said. Nearly a dozen employees will remain on site once completed.
Electricity generated from the turbines will be transmitted along a 59-mile line to a substation in Chester, near Lincoln.
Reed & Reed is taking care of the groundwork for the First Wind project in Oakfield and Jack Parker, the company’s president, said this was the sixth project his company has built with First Wind.
“When Oakfield is complete, about a year from now, it will bring the statewide total to 588 megawatts of clean renewable energy utility scale wind power in the state of Maine,” he said.
Parker noted the Maine Yankee was registered at 900 megawatts.
“We have replaced two-thirds of Maine Yankee with wind power in Maine,” he added. “That is tremendous progress.”
In addition, Parker said when his company is finished in Oakfield, a total of 282 wind turbines will be in Maine producing clean electricity for more than 200,000 households.
“This will bring the total investment of wind power in Maine to over $1.8 billion in wind farms,” said Parker. “First Wind has accounted for about two-thirds of that … a $1.2 billion investment … no industry in Maine even comes close to that kind of investment and that economic impact in our state.”
Oakfield Town Manager Dale Morris said it took teamwork to get the Oakfield Wind Farm Project up and running. The process began in April of 2007.
“The town went through what I would call an organizational crisis just like other small towns in Maine,” said Morris. “As a result of that there were changes.”
One of those changes included going from a three-member to a five-member wind farm committee.
“There were some strong personalities,” he said. “But, they all have one big love and that love is the town of Oakfield. “Through their efforts, dedication and hard work, 90 percent of the $12 million is going to be given to full-time residents (over 20 years). This past year, we gave out a check to full-time residents of about $2,200. In addition to that, there will be another $15 million in property tax payments.
“To sort out and to analyze a project of this size and to do what the committee has done, is a remarkable achievement,” Morris added.
Agreeing, Jim Sholler, chairman of the Oakfield Wind Farm Committee said, “It has been a long road. We had many meetings and there were some disappointments along the way as you would expect.”
The first issue was a Supreme Court appeal on the initial project calling for a 51 mega watt system. Then turbines stored in Oakfield and Houlton were moved and installed in the West. But, there was a silver lining, according to Sholler.
“During the appeal process, the wind farm was redrawn to make a 148 megawatt system and the benefit of the wind farm went from $225,000 a year to $600,000 a year for the 20 years to year-round residents of Oakfield,” Sholler explained.
The money distributed to the town will allow for the town to improve its infrastructure including roads and repairs; fire trucks and what Sholler said was a “much needed fire station.”
The $12 million to $14 million is built on a mils rate of 17 or 18 mils per thousand, Sholler explained, and Oakfield operates on a current rate of 17.3 mills.
Sholler also noted the town received a sound ordinance as part of the Department of Environmental Protection to deal with any sound problems if they should arise.
“Jim Sholler wants more than anything is the right thing for Oakfield,” said Fowler.
Bob Dorsey, executive director of Aroostook Partners in Progress, said what the town of Oakfield had done was admirable.
“Four hundred million dollar investments in The County do not come very frequently,” he said. “I think every town in the whole county has learned from what you have done and what can be done in The County.”
Kearns thanked the community for its warm reception.
“It hasn’t always been perfect,” he said. “But, this relationship will continue and as we go through various ups and downs, we hope the lines of communication are always open.”
As First Wind works within the state, hundreds of jobs are created, Maine companies are utilized, tax bases in rural areas are increased, along with community benefit packages and land owner payments in towns that need an economic boost, officials added.
“Maine is fortunate to have First Wind investing in renewable power projects right here in our state,” Parker added. “First Wind has the vision to have created almost single-handedly the renewable power industry in Maine. First Wind has the determination to work through sometimes the tedious and unpredictable regulatory framework. First Wind has made the commitment to working with host communities to create best in class projects. First Wind has the resources and skills to bring these magnificent projects to fruition.”
