Maine wind power project gets $102 million federal loan guarantee  

Credit:  Posted by Jonathan Riskind, The Portland Press Herald, www.pressherald.com 15 August 2011 ~~

A wind power project located in Oxford County, near Roxbury, is getting a boost from a $102 million federal loan guarantee.

The Department of Energy announced the loan guarantee granted to Record Hill Wind today in a release. Together with money invested by Yale University Endowment, DOE said, the loan guarantee will help support financing for the project: a 50.6 megawatt wind power plant and an associated transmission line and other equipment.

The project being development and managed by Wagner Wind Energy of New Hampshire and Independence Wind of Maine will result in about 200 construction jobs, according to DOE. The project’s planned 22 turbines and transmission lines will connect to Central Maine Utility.

“This innovative project creates jobs in Maine while boosting domestic wind generation in order to achieve the Administration’s goal of doubling clean energy produced in America by 2035,” Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said in a statement.

Independence Wind was founded by two prominent Mainers, former Independent Gov. Angus King and Robert Gardiner, whose resume includes past stints as advocacy center director in Maine for the Conservation Law Foundation and director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, according to Record Hill’s web site. Gardiner also is a former president of the Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. (Note: The Natural Resources Council of Maine was referred to incorrectly in the initial blog item, but is now named correctly.)