Event Title
Winded: Evaluating Community and Operator Relations in Maine Community-Based Wind Energy Projects
Location
Parker-Reed, SSWAC
Start Date
1-5-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 2:00 PM
Project Type
Poster
Description
Maines promising wind energy industry is growing and rural and island communities have begun pursuing wind turbine-generated electricity. The Fox Islands have, through the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative, successfully established a wind operation to provide the 1,500 island residents with electricity produced by three 1.5 megawatt turbines situated on Vinalhaven Island. However, shortly after the turbines began operation, a small but vocal group of Vinalhaven residents began to speak out against the noise issues they found as a product of living in the vicinity of the project. After numerous newspaper articles from both sides and formal complaints submitted to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, a group known as the Fox Islands Wind Neighbors has sued the Cooperative and the DEP. The case reached the Maine Superior Court and continues in appeals today. Through research and interviews with those connected to the project and the opposition, Both those in support of and against wind power generation can learn from the Fox Islands case and establish future projects that produce clean, inexpensive electricity with a minimal affect on the surrounding community through efficient communication and proper planning. I have analyzed the role that strategic communication has played in this project and crafted a series of recommendations for developers seeking to establish similar community-based projects.
Faculty Sponsor
Paul Josephson
Sponsoring Department
Colby College. Science, Technology and Society Program
CLAS Field of Study
Interdisciplinary Studies
Event Website
http://www.colby.edu/clas
ID
875
Included in
Winded: Evaluating Community and Operator Relations in Maine Community-Based Wind Energy Projects
Parker-Reed, SSWAC
Maines promising wind energy industry is growing and rural and island communities have begun pursuing wind turbine-generated electricity. The Fox Islands have, through the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative, successfully established a wind operation to provide the 1,500 island residents with electricity produced by three 1.5 megawatt turbines situated on Vinalhaven Island. However, shortly after the turbines began operation, a small but vocal group of Vinalhaven residents began to speak out against the noise issues they found as a product of living in the vicinity of the project. After numerous newspaper articles from both sides and formal complaints submitted to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, a group known as the Fox Islands Wind Neighbors has sued the Cooperative and the DEP. The case reached the Maine Superior Court and continues in appeals today. Through research and interviews with those connected to the project and the opposition, Both those in support of and against wind power generation can learn from the Fox Islands case and establish future projects that produce clean, inexpensive electricity with a minimal affect on the surrounding community through efficient communication and proper planning. I have analyzed the role that strategic communication has played in this project and crafted a series of recommendations for developers seeking to establish similar community-based projects.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/285