First Wind's Stetson Mountain project is unnecessarily creating congestion on Maine's New England power grid transmission lines, thanks to state policymakers' rush to create more wind energy in the state, an anti-wind energy group's leader charged Sunday.
"They pushed through the project without contemplating the interconnection problems of the existing projects and the new ones that may come on line," said Lisa Linowes, executive director of Industrial Wind Action Group.
"It's more about getting wind [turbines] on the ridgelines or whatever than making smart choices about wind power," Linowes added.
First Wind and officials from Brookfield Renewable Power Inc. of Millinocket, one of the companies affected by the congestion, according to Linowes' scenario, denied her claims.
Linowes pointed to a June 2007 report written by RLC Engineering for ISO-New England, which manages the grid, and Bangor Hydro- Electric Co. stating that Brookfield Power's 126-megawatt hydroelectric system in Millinocket and East Millinocket and Indeck's 25-megawatt biomass boiler in Enfield would have to power down significantly or go off line to accommodate electricity from the Stetson Mountain project when that comes on line by the end of this year.
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