They haven’t built a single windmill, but Maine’s newest wind entrepreneurs are joining the clean energy quest as near royalty.

Former Gov. Angus King and environmental activist Rob Gardiner have been quietly scouring the hills and mountains of Maine for the past several months, looking for suitable sites with steady winds.

Now, they’ve found what they want and gone public as new players in Maine’s emerging wind energy market.

“It’s a technology I’ve been interested in for a long time,” King said on Friday. “The time is right.”

Players is the key word here. The pair has been involved in alternative energy, land use, the environment and many other things around the state for decades.
And King brings a familiar and persuasive presence to the business.

“I just got tired of talking about global climate change and decided to do something about it,” he said.

King and Gardiner have created Brunswick-based Independence Wind LLC to develop and operate wind farms.

They have identified several potential sites, King said, but so far unveiled only one.

The pair’s initial plan is for 25 wind turbines along a 2,000-foot-high ridge in the Oxford County communities of Byron and Roxbury.

The project would cost an estimated $50 million to $100 million and would generate as much as 50 megawatts – “enough electricity for all the homes in Oxford County,” said King.

King and Gardiner have been meeting with town officials and camp owners in the communities, and they’ve set up two 297-foot-tall towers with sensors.
“Right now, we’re literally testing the wind,” King said.

It’s already clear from those meetings that some neighbors will object because of the visual impact, he said. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has impacts.”

By next spring, the pair will have a good idea whether the site is worth pursuing. King and Gardiner could file for state environmental permits as soon as next year and start building as soon as 2009, King said.

The pair is joining the race for alternative energy sources at an opportune time.

Wind energy is growing around the world and is growing in the United States at a rate of 20 to 25 percent a year, according to King. Three major wind farms with a total of 102 turbines are planned for mountains in northern and western Maine and are being considered by Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission.

The new guys on the block have decent credentials.

Before his two terms as governor, King developed hydropower projects, started an energy conservation company and hosted a talk show on public television, where he met Gardiner. Gardiner is the former head of Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. and has been director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Conservation Law Foundation.

“I’m excited about it,” King said. “I hope it’s a positive experience for us and for Maine.”

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