No Public Concern is Too Small

During the planning stage of a new project, TransCanada puts extraordinary effort into identifying local concerns so they may be addressed satisfactorily.

In Maine, where the demand for electricity is high and growing, government representatives see development of wind power as an important part of the solution. The windy Boundary Mountains in the northern part of the State offer an excellent venue for such developments. As a result, successive State administrations have welcomed proposals for wind farms since the 1990s. TransCanada’s Kibby Wind Power Project was only the third proposal to be approved under the State’s regulations. Thorough technical and environmental research and unequalled stakeholder consultation made the difference.

The principal matters of stakeholder concern were protection of the fragile alpine environment and preservation of the magnificent, high altitude views. TransCanada worked closely with representatives of all the major environmental and recreational organizations in the region. As a result, the project received support from the Appalachian Mountain Club, Maine Audubon, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Trust for Public Land in June of 2007.

An important result of these consultations was the Kibby Wind Power Project Conservation Agreement, signed in October. Under it, we committed to avoiding development on 1,100 acres of high altitude ridgelines near our project site and to contributing $500,000 to the State’s conservation efforts along the Grafton Loop Trail, a back country hiking trail with exceptional scenic and ecological value.

TransCanada’s Corey Goulet, vice president, Energy Projects, said “we heard praise for our proactive efforts in opening discussions with environmental groups very early in the process. They were pleased with the productive nature of those talks, along with the willingness of TransCanada to enter into an agreement that protected land to mitigate environmental impacts.”

While this is a highly public result of our consultations with members of the community, our efforts yielded many less visible successes. For example, we recognized that many Maine residents hunt in that locale each fall and we wanted to make sure they understood the need for a temporary restriction on hunting activities while our crews were working in the area. We invited the hunters to an information session to learn about our plan and offer their comments. Many people attended and their reaction was very positive.

TransCanada began construction of the Kibby project in 2009 and expects it to be operational by 2010. Its 44 wind turbines will produce 132 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity, enough to power 50,000 New England homes.