Scope of the Project

Here's what we know for certain:

First Wind Holdings formed a subsidiary named Champlain Wind LLC for the purpose of pursuing an industrial wind energy complex on Bowers Mountain in Carroll, Plt.

Champlain Wind has leased 6,140 acres of land from Bowers Mtn LLC of Maryland, Lakeville Shores, Inc. (H.C.Haynes) and Baskahegan Company (Roger Milliken, Jr.) in Carroll Plt and Kossuth Plt.

Although Neil Kiely of First Wind promised the Lakeville selectboard in January 2010 that First Wind would host a minimum of two informational meetings for Lakeville residents, no such meetings have ever been held.

After stating in initial presentations the complex would include 17 to 18 turbines of 1.5MW each, by the time Champlain Wind LLC petitioned to have Kossuth added to the expedited zone, the number had risen to 25 turbines of 2.3MW each. As soon as LURC approved the Kossuth addition, Champlain Wind LLC increased the number to a total of 27 turbines on Bowers Mountain and Dill Hill Ridge. LURC tells us the current plan calls for seventeen 2.3MW turbines and ten 3.0MW turbines. These turbines stand 428' tall. (click here and here to see the Siemens brochures). With a total nameplate capacity of 69.10 MW, the Bowers Mtn/Dill Ridge Project will be the largest industrial wind complex in New England.

The plan is for the Bowers Mountain complex to link up with the Stetson I complex. This will require a transmission corridor that will most likely run from the Dill Hill / Dipper Pond area straight north. It will cross Route 6 approximately at the county line and run through the Baskahegan Stream wetlands until it reaches Stetson I.

According to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision dated March 18, 2010 granting First Wind a waiver, First Wind Holdings is developing a multiple-phase wind generating project located in Washington and Penobscot Counties. Collectively known as The Maine Wind Project, it consists of the following four projects:
Stetson I (57 MW nameplate capacity)
Stetson II (25.5 MW nameplate capacity)
planned: Rollins Mtn (60 MW nameplate capacity)
planned: Bowers Mtn (69.1 MW nameplate capacity)
(Click here to see a map of these projects)

The FERC decision also reports that each of the generating facilities of the Maine Wind Project is or will be interconnected with the transmission system owned by the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company (Bangor Hydro), which is part of the ISO New England, Inc. (ISO-NE). The Maine Wind Project uses a 38-mile, 345 kV generator lead line that interconnects the Maine Wind Project with the Bangor Hydro transmission system. The Maine Wind Project generator lead line is designed, constructed, and used solely to interconnect the Maine Wind Project with the Bangor Hydro system.