Downeast Wind Project Profile
Downeast Wind helps the State of Maine meet its energy goals with clean, domestic energy, while diversifying Washington County's economy. Apex Clean Energy worked closely with local landowners, residents, community leaders, state agencies, and other stakeholders to design and permit a project that fits well with the surrounding community and sustains the region’s agricultural heritage, specifically wild blueberry operations.
The 126 MW wind energy project is currently operational and generating enough homegrown Maine clean energy to power more than 37,000 homes average homes each year. The project includes 30 modern wind turbines interspersed across the Town of Columbia and unorganized territories in Washington County. Each of the project's 4.2-megawatt wind turbines can generate enough power in a single rotation to power the average American home for more than four hours (click here for a fact sheet about Downeast's wind turbines).
A Clean Economic Opportunity for Washington County that Helps Meet Maine’s Energy Goals
The State of Maine has set a bold course for 80% of its energy to come from renewable sources by 2030. Downeast Wind will help meet that challenge through homegrown renewable energy, reduced emissions, and direct economic benefits for participant landowners and host communities.
Downeast Wind brings significant economic benefits to Washington County and the State of Maine. During construction, the project provided over 250 construction jobs, with over 75% of those workers being Maine residents. The project also relied heavily on local contractors, with over $108 million spent with Maine businesses during construction. Apex selected Maine-based Reed & Reed as the lead contractor for the project and worked with numerous local subcontractors and suppliers throughout construction, including Sargent (Orono, ME), Comprehensive Land Tech (China, ME), and Owen J. Folsom, Inc. (Old Town, ME), among others. The project uses Vestas wind turbines containing multiple U.S.-manufactured components, which were transported by rail or sea through Mack Point Terminal in Searsport.
Community Benefits
- Close to $20 million in new revenue for Columbia and Washington County from locally approved tax-increment-financing (TIF) and community benefit agreements
- New local revenue from Downeast Wind will support investments in public health, infrastructure, public safety, vocational education, small business grants, economic development, water quality, and environmental stewardship
- Over 300 construction jobs created with an additional 600+ indirect and induced jobs projected in the state of Maine
- 6 full-time local jobs for operations and maintenance
- Over $156 million in direct, indirect, and induced spending in the state of Maine during construction
- 30 years of direct income for local landowners, injecting close to $30 million dollars into Washington County’s economy to support local merchants, contractors, and equipment suppliers
Land and Environmental Stewardship
Downeast Wind has worked with leading engineers and scientists as well as public officials, landowners, residents, and sportsmen to design a project that will make efficient use of the robust wind resource while sustaining existing land uses, maintaining and expanding habitats for native species, and avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating ecological impacts wherever possible. The project will upgrade, improve and maintain roadways to and through the project area, improving access for hunters and trail users; upgraded stream crossings will promote fish passage and healthy stormwater drainage.
Why Washington County?
Washington County was selected, after a thorough examination of many candidate sites, for the following reasons:
- Verified wind resource
- Existing high-voltage power lines
- Expansive tracts of land
- Maine residents support of wind energy
Project Timeline
Downeast Wind received all necessary permits from local, state, and federal jurisdictions to move forward with construction. Construction work began in late 2023, with turbine deliveries in mid-2024 and full commercial operation commencing in May 2025. For more information on the state permitting process, visit the website for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's review of the project by clicking here.