In a public ceremony Sept. 16, the Chewonki Foundation raised a 100-foot tower equipped with a 6.6-kilowatt wind turbine on the nonprofit’s 400 acre campus in Wiscasset.
Located on a knoll on the northwest side of the farm, the structure will provide power to Chewonki’s staff housing building and according to a press release, produce an estimated 6000 kilowatt-hours per year.
Taking special care to thank the effort and input of Wiscasset Director of Planning & Development Jeffrey Hinderliter, Chewonki Sustainability Coordinator Peter Arnold said he was “excited that Chewonki could produce an electric crop as well as a food crop.”
Originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m., the finishing touches needed to securely join the turbine and the self-supporting structure extended past noon. While they waited, the modest crowd of Chewonki staffers and Wiscasset residents were given an impromptu history of the project from Arnold who spoke of the “immediate” impact of the project and offered to answer any questions.
After a brief “blessing” ceremony where Chewonki staff members rubbed basil from their garden on the turbine, a “marriage of our earth and the potential of the wind” said Arnold, the structure began inching its way skyward with a steady and deliberate ease. A large excavator pulled from the front while another provided “anchor” weight in the rear amounting to what an onlooker called a “cool lesson in physics.”
Evolo Energy Solutions of Newport provided the installation of the tower and the project was funded by an anonymous donor, the Horizon and Orchard Foundations of Portland, and $10,000 of Chewonki’s own money, according to the foundation’s website.
Arnold began the effort for the wind tower four years ago but discovered an existing height restriction from the town of Wiscasset. Working closely with Town Planner Jeffrey Hinderliter, they created what is now a nationally recognized model: the “Small Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance.”
“I’ve fielded phone calls from Utah, Colorado, and a few municipalities in the Upper Midwest,” said Hinderliter.
Hinderliter said he first looked for an existing state model for personal use wind turbines but found none. He then looked nationally, north to Canada and even to Europe before piecing together an ordinance that fit the needs of both Wiscasset and Chewonki. This example of creative collaboration is “increasingly vital” Hinderliter said as energy concerns mount statewide and nationally.
Chewonki fully supports the idea of small turbines and is proud to be a ground floor leader in Lincoln County.
“We support organizations and people thinking of renewable resources in their own backyard. It’s important to remember that small sites can be effective too,” said Betta Stothart Connor, Chewonki’s communications director.
Information on wind speed and electricity production can be found on the Chewonki website chewonki.org.
