TOWNSHIP 8, Range 3, Maine — Silent surroundings almost tease the ears as clouds skitter across the top of this eastern corner of Maine. The wind, barely audible, swishes through beech and fir trees crowding the hills of an area so remote it’s part of the state’s Unorganized Territory.
Wisps of wind gain a whoosh-whoosh cadence as they push into motion the mammoth blades at the tops of towers reaching hundreds of feet into the air.
That same wind helps turn on the lights, run TVs and power washers, dryers and ovens in thousands of homes all over New England.
The wind that once powered fleets of Maine’s storied sailing ships now churns out the juice for a green-energy industry that the state is breathlessly pursuing. Technology that moves ships through the seas is much the same as what’s applied on the turbines.
And then there’s the scenery.
“This is as good as it gets, right here. This is the best view you’re going to get around these areas,” said engineer Andy Doak, 27, locked in a safety harness as he stands atop a generator housing 300 feet in the air to check electrical components, structural bolts and other fittings. “It’s pretty humbling.”
Windmills are lifted into place section by section by cranes so big they must be hauled to the site in several pieces and reassembled. Their operation requires daily maintenance by workers.
The U.S. Department of Energy said in 2008 that, despite rising project costs, the wholesale price of wind power has consistently been at or below the average wholesale price of conventional electricity.
An industry group, the American Wind Energy Association, said the cost of wind- power generation is now in a range that’s competitive with power from a conventional plant built today.
But although wind power may be a key to energy independence, neighbors who are within eyeshot of windmills don’t always welcome it.
In Maine, a project was turned down in 2007 in part because it would mar the scenery enjoyed by Appalachian Trail hikers.
First Wind’s 38-turbine Stetson project, now New England’s largest, can turn out enough electricity to power about 23,500 homes.
