Wind Farm
Taking Shape Quickly Providing Off-Season Boost
by Claire Lynch
Colebrook Sentinel
October 12 2011
Dixville and Millsfield have seen a flurry of activity in recent months, as contractors work to finish the Brookfield Power Windmill Project ahead of winter.
The project has employed subcontractors from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, among them several local companies providing support services. These include JML Trucking of Errol, C. Bean Transport and Home Fuel of Colebrook, and C.D.S. Portable Toilets of Strat-ford.
For JML it has been a little bit of everything, said owner Jon Lane, who has provided dump trucks, bucket loaders and other equipment for the Sargent Corporation of Stillwater, Maine, which is in charge of the ground work. "We've been helping them out quite a bit in the last three to four weeks," Mr. Lane said, noting that crews have been working around the clock to finish the road system.
JML Trucking has built access roads and graded existing roads, in addition to the equipment rental, he explained. "I delivered all the hay for mulching," he said, "and there's been a lot of repairs on their trucks. It's made a good summer for sure."
Chip Bean of C. Bean Transport has been providing plenty of off-road diesel for the Sargent Corporation, and for Maine Drilling and Blasting of Gardiner. It's been good business at a time when home heating fuel hits the low point in warm weather, he noted.
Mr. Bean started with Maine Drilling and Blasting as the work ensued to install pads for the windmills on level ground, then moved on to Sargent as fuel was needed for the big DC-10 bulldozer and other pieces of equipment. As work continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Mr. Bean had to make deliveries twice a day to keep up with the demand, he said.
He expects another two weeks of good business as the project managers make their push to get the project up and running before winter, he said, and then he expects to make a dramatic turn to home heating fuel needs. "We were happy," he said. "It was a nice boost for us."
Northeast Perspective
The Granite Reliable wind farm of Brookfield Power is
coming together, stretching from Millsfield to Dixville.
Working in advance of the winter months, RMT Energy of Wisconsin has projects
both completed and in
progress in 24 states, including transmission lines, wind and solar power. This
Granite Reliable wind
project is slated to produce 99 megawatts. (Claire Lynch photo)
The View Southeast
The Granite Reliable wind farm of Brookfield Power is well underway, with new
windmills reaching
for the sky nearly every day. On the Fishbrook ridgeline just south of Owl
Head Mountain in Millsfield,
as seen from the air on September 26, there were nine already up and several
more mid-construction.
Once the project is complete, there will be 33 Vesta V90-3MW turbines in
Millsfield and Dixville.
(Claire Lynch photo)