Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Developer: Proposed wind farm site is too windy

RUMFORD, Maine -- A wind-power company says a western Maine site it's been looking at is too windy for turbines. First Wind's Matthew Kearns told a public meeting in Rumford on Thursday that its proposed Longfellow wind farm on Black Mountain and North and South Twin mountains may not be viable.

The Sun Journal of Lewiston quotes Kearns as saying First Wind's studies so far show that gusts atop Black Mountain are too strong for turbine engineering to handle, and that's a problem for wind turbine bearings.

Kearns said the Massachusetts-based company would not propose wind towers on North and South Twin mountains even if it finds a turbine that could handle the strong winds on Black Mountain.

A separate wind power project is under construction on Record Hill in Roxbury, also near Rumford.