One sight always catches our breath as we drive Route 9 across what sometimes feels like the fringe of civilization as we’ve known it. And, for the uninitiated, the state highway from Bangor to Calais can become pretty monotonous in its long uninhabited stretches. As they say, make sure you have a full tank of fuel before you tackle it.
On a clear day, from a dozen miles away you might catch glimpses of a corner of the windfarms on Weaver Ridge and adjoining hills in Hancock County – I’ve counted at least 30 towers before the road dips away – but there are more tucked away in the high terrain. Still, nothing can prepare you for that first flash of the big blades turning gently in the air right in front of your face, or so it seems.
They dance gracefully – sometimes as a solo, then as a pair, or four. You spot them to your left but they suddenly show up on your right – the roadway twists along the slope. As those slip behind you, more giants rise above the hedge of forest. And all too soon, you’ve moved on.
The towers and their blades are bigger than you’d suspect. In fact, at the moment, they’re the tallest wind-powered electrical generators onshore in America, though much larger ones are projected for offshore installation.
Wind generation accounts for nearly a third of the electrical production in Maine, though the state also imports a fourth of its electricity from Canada, largely Hydro Quebec.
I am baffled by the “not-in-my-backyard” opponents to similar windfarms. They still want energy for their computers and refrigerators and lighting, right?
As if these “spoil the view”? I find them mesmerizing, even enhancing as a kind of sculpture and a reminder of the currents in the air itself. They definitely look better than a toxic oil refinery – and there’s no awful smell. For that matter, they strike me as much more attractive than a television transmitter or cell phone tower as a hilltop crown. And they do remind us of the charming Dutch windmills in a much smaller scale.
The latest installation, 22 Vesta towers and turbines, cost $150 million and went into full operation earlier this year.
Jnana's Red Barn 
WInd turbines generate Infrasound and low frequency noise (ILFN) that has negative health outcomes – sometimes to a serious degree. Low frequency sound travels considerable distances and can pass through structures such as building walls and resonate within a building. Wind Turbine Noise – A Simple Statement of Facts – The Australian Experience is worth a read.
I’m all for wind generation. I can see approximately 100 from where I’m sitting right now. They’re perhaps 20 Km away, but I would not like to reside 5 Km or less from them. I can feel the infrasound when in close proximity to them.
Good points. Still, among the options we have, they strike me as superior to most others. Even solar seems to have its critics.
We have chosen to buy electricity from a 100% renewable generator: hydro, geothermal and wind, and we generate more than half of our own electrical needs from solar panels. Last month we became a net exporter of electricity for the first time.
We’ll probably purchase more solar panels in future (we have 23 at present) and also storage batteries to reduce our reliance on the grid even further.
No matter whatever renewable resource you use, it comes with advantages and disadvantages. Wind generation is certainly on par with other renewable resources, and I wouldn’t object to seeing several hundred more turbines on the skyline, but not within 5 Km. Closer than that and I’d become a NIMBY too.
Well taken. Many of the Maine wind farms are in unincorporated townships of low to no year-’round human habitation. Most of the one I photographed is in Osborn, with a population of 69 or so.