Staff Writer
DANFORTH, Maine — Gov. John E. Baldacci joined a celebration last Thursday to mark the official startup of New England’s largest commercial wind operation at the Stetson Wind Project, just outside Danforth. At the event, hosted by First Wind, the operator and developer behind Stetson Wind, the governor said “it was a wonderful sight” and addressed the economic benefits to the state’s economy. “The construction and related business around this project was responsible for 350 jobs and $50 million to the Maine economy. The facility will continue to support six full-time workers and provide energy that will power more than 23,000 homes throughout New England,” Baldacci said of the project.
Referring to the environmental benefits of the project that uses 38 wind turbines generating up to 167 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity a year, Baldacci also said “they talk about wind energy in Washington D.C., but they deliver it in Washington County.”
John Clark, manager of Houlton Water Company, the municipally-owned utility that delivers but does not generate electricity, said the Stetson Wind project is good but, “the power is being sent to southern New England so it does not benefit our customers.”
