Up and Turning on Vinalhaven (largest East Coast community-owned wind farm) Maine

[jpak]

http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=52&SubSectionID=78&ArticleID=3834

Fox Islands Wind, a subsidiary of the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative, will hold a celebration for the residents of Vinalhaven on Tuesday, November 17, to mark the inauguration of three wind turbines on Vinalhaven. The ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m., with a buffet lunch to follow at the wind turbine site on North Haven Road. Governor Baldacci will attend the event.

The event caps the $14.5 million project to erect the first community-owned wind turbines on a Maine island.

"The Fox Islands Wind project is the first community wind project to get off the ground in Maine and we're proud of its progress," said Governor Baldacci. "It provides an example to other communities of the kind of bold steps needed to realize the potential for new jobs, new investments and a new energy future. This is the sort of economic development that will pay dividends for years to come, benefitting local taxpayers, students and making our state more energy independent."

The quest for low-priced renewable energy began in 2002 when the cooperative received a grant for a three-year wind resource study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Renewable Energy Research Laboratory. The study showed that the island had ample wind energy available to provide electricity for its 1,500 year-round residents. In 2005, a new submarine electricity cable was installed between Vinalhaven and the mainland, which provided a stable connection for both the import and export of electricity to and from the island. In July 2008, the residents on both Vinalhaven and North Haven voted overwhelmingly (382-5) to authorize the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative to proceed with the development of three turbines on a site in the middle of the island.

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