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V O L . X X X N O. I V F E B R UA R Y 1 9 , 2 0 2 4 14 E N E R G Y / E N V I RO N M E N T E ven with the lingering winter clouds hanging overhead lately, Adam Little says there's no better view of Aroostook County than up on a wind turbine. "You pop your head out the roof hatch, tie off and just sit there and eat your lunch … It's probably the best spot to eat lunch ever," Little says. Even a pea- nut butter and jelly sandwich "hits differ- ent when you're up there," he adds. Little is a wind turbine technician at the Oakfield Wind Project, a 148 MW facility based in an Aroostook County town of the same name. Commercial operations began in late 2015. At the moment, the 42 MW Mars Hill proj- ect is the only other large-scale wind farm in the county. But with a much more massive wind farm in the devel- opment pipeline — the 1,000 MW King Pine project — the local demand for trained wind turbine technicians will undoubtedly swell. at's good news for both the state and the county. Aroostook County's population has nearly halved since 1966, when it was home to roughly 112,000 permanent, year-round residents, according to a 1968 state economic development report. While some municipalities have seen a surge in interest from families and others seek- ing small town life in recent years, that uptick hasn't been enough to counteract decades of population decline. e U.S. Census Bureau's most recent estimate shows a population of just 67,255 — roughly that of the city of Portland, four hours to the south. More daunting, the median age is 49, which is about 10% higher than the rest of Maine. Economic benefit Because LS Power, the developer of a transmission line to move power from the King Pine project to the grid, couldn't adhere to its originally bid price, a new request for propos- als will be published sometime this year, according to Philip Bartlett, the chair of the Maine Public Utilities Commission. at will extend the development timeline. Nevertheless, the local economic benefit is poised to be substantial, albeit deferred. Longroad Energy projects on its webpage for the project that the roughly 170-turbine facility could gener- ate around $60 million in property tax revenues, $4,000 per turbine in local community benefits and an "estimated $425 million spent with Maine vendors." "If you have major construc- tion going on, even if folks are being brought in from other parts of the Tagwongo Obomsawin, Clean Energy Partnership program manager for the Governor's Energy Office, near the solar array at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY F O C U S Clean Clean Clean energy energy energy jobs jobs jobs In Aroostook County, workforce training programs eye future opportunities

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