Wind farm hopes to be operating in one year (Maine)

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=146316&ac=PHnws

ROCKWOOD — Maine land regulators Wednesday gave their approval to a zoning change and preliminary plan for a 38- turbine wind project in eastern Maine that would be the largest wind farm in the region.

The Land Use Regulation Commission unanimously approved the zoning request for a 57-megawatt project on Stetson Mountain, a ridge line that stretches between Danforth and Springfield in northern Washington County.

The applicant, Evergreen Wind Power, has already built the region's largest operating wind farm -- a 42-megawatt, 28- turbine project in the northern Maine town of Mars Hill that started generating power earlier this year. Evergreen is a subsidiary of UPC Wind Management of Newton, Mass.

Matt Kearns, the Stetson Mountain project manager, said construction will begin this winter pending final LURC and Environmental Protection Department approval. The wind farm, which will generate enough electricity for 27,000 homes, could be operational by the end of 2008.

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