KIBBY TOWNSHIP - Under the whisper of a whirling 410-foot wind turbine, 250 people stood at the top of Kibby Mountain today to help celebrate the start-up of half of TransCanada's $320 million Kibby Wind Power Project and, somewhat unexpectedly, hear plans for the expansion of Kibby's 44-windmill project by adding 15 more on nearby Sisk Mountain.

The proposed $100 million expansion project on Sisk Mountain would be located just west of the Kibby range and mountain project. According to plans, the 15 turbines would be installed near the Canadian border and run due south along Sisk Mountain's summit. TransCanada Energy Ltd. officials told the crowd today the expansion would utilize Kibby's road upgrades, newly constructed 27-mile transmission line and operation buildings.

In a warmed tent that shielded those attending from the 35-degree stiff wind blowing outside, a ceremony of speeches marked the start up of 22 turbines that is now generating power for Central Maine Power Co. and its New England grid.

The second phase of the current project will see the installation of another 22 windmills on nearby Kibby Ridge next summer. When all 44 wind turbines are operational, the Kibby project will provide power for 50,000 homes and become New England's largest wind power project.

After receiving a permit from the state's Land Use Regulation Commission in August, TransCanada installed a meteorological tower to measure wind and collect other data on Sisk Mountain, which is also located in Franklin County. TransCanada is expected to submit the required state and federal development applications by December.

Most of the area proposed for the addition of 15 windmills lies in an area designated by the state as expedited for wind power construction, TransCanada officials confirmed today.
An expedited designation requires one all-inclusive application be submitted to LURC, said Dana Valleau, an environmental specialist who has worked on Kibby project from the beginning.

One application means that a permit for the project, if approved by LURC, can come within a year and construction could begin as early as late 2010, just after the completion of the Kibby project. Construction would be extended for another year, into the summer of 2011. In all, 59 turbines producing 3 megawatts, would be enough to meet the electricity needs of 64,000 average-sized households.

"After the first tour I took up here four years ago, I was sold on this project," said state Sen. Walter Gooley of Farmington. Gooley served on the governor's Wind Power Task Force that made the designations of areas that would be expedited for windmill construction in Maine. "This is a wonderful site," he added on the bus trip up to the ceremony.

So far, TransCanada has spent more that $78 million in Maine, with more than $5 million in Franklin County to construct the wind towers. Three hundred people, 90 percent of whom are Mainers, were employed during the summer to erect 22 turbines. If the expansion project is approved, two more summers of hundreds of workers atop mountains in northern Franklin County can be expected, officials said.

"It was a long and winding road to get here," said Gov. John Baldacci. "This is a huge investment of $320 million and another $100 million with the expansion project."

With this week's announcements that a group of researchers led by the University of Maine has been awarded a federal grant of $8 million to develop the technology to deploy two offshore turbines in the Gulf of Maine, and that two foreign business groups are coming to Maine to explore new wind power possibilities, goes show that Maine has become a leader in wind power development, Baldacci said.

"Companies are coming here because we have the expertise," he said. He noted the economic benefits locally have been significant. Eustis/Stratton has been promised by TransCanada a community benefits package totaling $1,000 per megawatt produced each year by the turbines, which could mean up to $132,000. Eustis Selectman Jane Wilkinson said today the board hasn't decided yet on how the town will spend the additional income but that it probably will go towards community projects and not routine town expenses.

Franklin County is expecting $4 million over the 20-year life span of the turbines. As part of the agreement with the Canadian energy giant, that money will be dedicated to economic development projects as is the $9 million the unorganized territories can expect over the same period.

"The economic development benefit here is huge to Franklin County and the state," said Alison Hagerstrom, executive director of the Greater Franklin Development Corporation. As photographs were taken of people and turbines, she added, "We're on the cutting edge. This will be the biggest wind power project in New England."

Baldacci said the state may see nearly a dozen major wind power projects completed in the next few years.

"It will be wave after wave of wind power projects coming to Maine because they will see what we can do and will come here because of it," he said before heading down the mountain.