Zumba-thon for veterans a success
The Zumba-Thon for Veterans was held on April 21 at Madison Junior High School to benefit the programs for veterans at Togus. More than $1,100 was raised which will be donated to the programs such as the VA/VS which includes keeping the supply closet of comfort items for every veteran who is admitted, coffee and newspapers in the waiting room, gifts at Christmas and other activities. Below, the nine instructors who conducted the zumba-thon, from left to right, Christine Marie, Hillary White, Lisa Berry, Allison Marcoux, Tiara Nile, organizer, Lisa Doyon, Denise Delorie and Suzanne Lamb.
Contributed photos
Two local students on URI dean’s list
The University of Rhode Island, in Kingston, Rhode Island, has announced the Fall 2016 dean’s list. The following students were named to the dean’s list with their area of study: Alexandria M. Jarvais, of Madison, majoring in Pharm D, and Rachel Cambridge Pratt, of Cornville, majoring in Kinesiology.
Fun in the sun, with chocolate help
Left photo, Mathis Washburn, of Canaan, makes his way down the Chocolate Slip ‘n Slide, at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park, at Yonderhill Campground, in Madison, on July 30.
Photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography
Right, from left to right, Riley Landry, of Vassalboro, Tate Jewell, Adam Fitzgerald and Landon Nunn, all of Skowhegan, get set to join in the slide.
Photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography
Foley graduates from WPI
On Saturday, May 14, on the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) campus quadrangle, in Worcester, Massachusetts, 907 bachelor’s degrees were awarded during the university’s 148th commencement ceremony.
Kyle Foley, of Madison, was awarded a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering.
IF WALLS COULD TALK: Week of July 21, 2016
by Katie Ouilette
WALLS, just ‘where’ will you begin and end with this column? There sure is a lot on our plate this week! Eat up, faithful readers, and in case you are one that says there’s nothing to do here, read on!
WALLS, it’s time for you to speak loud and clear, as last Saturday, the Lake Wesserunsett Association had its annual meeting and it was superb. Yes, first there was breakfast served to almost everyone attending at the East Madison Grange Hall. Oh, breakfast was prepared by East Madison Grange members. Then, upstairs we went for the meeting which was brought to order by “Gene” Chiappetta, and we all wished him well as he left his presidency, and that office was assumed by Mark Doty, who lives at the inlet end of Lake Wesserunsett. We learned a lot about Somerset Woods Association from our peaker, Jack Gibson. By the way, Somerset Woods was, first, located on U.S. Route 2 and was a gift of Governor Abner Coburn’s sister, Helen. Now, the association owns many tracts of land and are preserving the lands for us to enjoy.
East Madison Fire Department was host to the Madison selectmen’s meeting on July 11 and a truly great meeting it was! First, WALLS, let faithful readers know how very lucky we of East Madison are to have such loyal selectmen, who are willing to hold their meeting in East Madison every five months, so that all attending can tell their thoughts and get answers from each selectman to whom the questions are addressed. Frankly, we must be grateful to Madison Town Manager Tim Curtis, for his always vital interest in East Madison.
Speaking of the great things that are happening for area folks and tourists to attend, the annual kneading conference will be held at the Skowhegan State Fairgrounds on July 28, 29 and 30 and we must thank Amber Lambke and her committee, which includes members of Great Grains, Plus, those great bread makers that join in the entire ‘learning and baking weekend.’. Be prepared to have the great bread fair at your fingertips, faithful readers.
WALLS, for sure you would be remiss if you didn’t at least tell our tourists and visitors about the Skowhegan Free Public Library, a gift of Gov. Abner Coburn His sister, Helen, gave Skowhegan its History House. Yes, the History House is now called the Research Center, also, and its executive director, Melvin Burnham, gives lectures at Skowhegan’s historic locations at least once a month and all are invited to attend. The Skowhegan Free Public Library also has a Genealogy Research Center that has recently been completed by Steve Dionne, owner of Lake George Construction.
So, WALLS, now you can leave the ‘exploring’ for folk’s own interests….but, for sure, there is a lot to experience in this central Maine area.
Major wind power project underway in Somerset County
INside the OUTside
by Dan Cassidy
Part 1 of 2
If you’ve been on the road anywhere between Skowhegan, Madison, Solon and Bingham, on Route 201 over the past several months, you may have been held up in a rare traffic jam, as state and local police escorts, support vehicles and huge tractor-trailer trucks transported massive towers, motors, blades and other related wind tower equipment to the Bingham, Mayfield and Kingsbury areas of Johnson Mountain off from Route 16.
According to the SunEdison website, manufacturers advanced solar technology is installing solar power systems that are supposed to deliver cost effective electricity to residential, commercial, utility and government customers.
Of the 56 towers planned for the area, 11 towers will be installed in Bingham. Photo by Dan Cassidy
Turbine deliveries began in the fall of 2015, and there are several towers already in place. The operation was suspended for about eight weeks due to spring posted road conditions, however Reed & Reed accelerated delivery of a large percentage of the project’s turbines during the winter months that allowed assembly to continue into the spring.
Reed & Reed and a team of highly skilled subcontractors are erecting turbines in two areas, with 36 turbines located just north of Route 16 and 20 turbines to the south. They are currently on schedule for an early completion by this fall.
SunEdison hits bump in the road
The project hasn’t been all that easy, as SunEdison, once a poster child of the clean energy boom ran into financial troubles earlier this year, caused by a mountain of debt taken on during better times, according to their website.
“The decision to file for bankruptcy was a difficult, but important step to address our immediate liquidity issues,” Ahmad Chatila, SunEdison CEO said in a published statement. The statement went on to say that SunEdison was flying high with shares trading above $33. The collapse happened soon after. Earlier this spring, the shares were trading at about 34 cents. Trading was halted shortly before the bankruptcy filing.
As far as the filing of bankruptcy protection affecting the Bingham project, the project has been financed and was acquired by Terra Nova Partners last year, according to SunEdison sources. The bankruptcy should have no impact to the project whatsoever.
Choosing the Bingham region site
There were a lot of factors that went into the decision of erecting towers in the Bingham, Kingsbury and Mayfield area. “We choose locations to build projects that require good wind speed in the area, access to transmission, limited number of residences or camps nearby, willing landowners, and local support,” said John Lamontagne, Senior Director of Communications at SunEdison, in an e-mail interview. “All those factors were involved in this project, but especially the wind and the local support,” he said.
SunEdison is the head of the overall project, although they are working very closely with the owners of the project. “Reed & Reed has been the general contractor on all the wind projects that SunEdison has built in Maine. “They are a great partner with us. That is their role at Bingham,” he said.
Tall towers
The towers are approximately 100 meters, (330 feet), and each will have three blades attached that are about 57 meters, approximately (188 feet). In total, if a blade is standing straight up, the structure is about 157 meters, close to (515 feet). The unit attached to the tower and what the blades are attached to is called the nacelle. It is where the electricity is being generated. The blade speed depends on the wind speed. Collector lines are going to be installed and will be connected to a substation, which then sends the electricity via transmission lines, according to Lamontagne.
According to Lamontagne, there are three landowners that are involved in forestry where the project is taking place. “Construction began on the project last year. Clearing work was started, logging roads were widened, and collector cables were installed. Towers didn’t start going up until March of this year.”
Lamontagne said that they plan to set up 56 turbines, each with a capacity of 3.3 MW. “In total, the project is projected to power about 60,000 homes. We expect the project to be online and operational by the end of the year.”
“The energy is being sold at a highly competitive price to customers, on par with natural gas,” Lamontagne said. “Customers will have the benefit of clean energy at no additional cost on their electricity bills.”
(Continued next week)