Staff Writer
A Texas company has set up wind measuring towers throughout Aroostook County, including in Caribou, to determine the potential for more wind energy farms, according to a company official speaking recently to the local Rotary Club. Justin Dawe, a project manager with Horizon Wing Energy, said that company representatives are talking with landowners and conducting engineering studies about installing wind turbines similar to the ones seen on Mars Hill Mountain.
The company recently opened an office in Presque Isle to monitor the various projects the company is considering. Horizon Wind Energy is based in Houston with over 200 employees throughout the country. It owns more than 1,300 megawatts of operating of operating wind farms. It also is developing and additional 10,500 mega watts projects in about 15 states. The parent company is Energias de Portugal, the largest utility in Portugal.
Horizon’s first project in the county is on Number Nine Mountain. Construction is scheduled for 2010 and electricity production is expected to begin the year after, Dawe said.
Dawe said the company is operating 17 wind measuring towers across the county, finding that wind is variable at different locations. He explained that that’s why so many measuring instruments are being used.
To establish a wind farm, a developer needs land, wind, transmission line and a buyer for the power, Dawe said.
“Also needed is a community that wants you there,” he said.
Company officials favor area with low populations, according to Dawe.
“We’re excited about our New England projects,” Dawe said. “These projects are slowing moving. We’ve been doing outreach, talking to landowners and tracking wind.”
Usually, it takes about five to six years to develop a project, with the facility operating for about 25 to 30 years, according to Dawe.
Producing electricity through wind has quickly become a highly competitive business.
“The days of a high return project are closed,” Dawe said.
The level of competition is such that it’s increasingly difficult to get the turbines for a project. Dawe said the company has already purchased the turbines for the 2010 development.
“We usually order them a couple years in advance so we’re sure we have them,” Dawe said.
