By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Two new energy companies are eying the Loring Commerce Centre as a potential business location — Laser Power Systems and RedHawk Metals, and Iberdrola Renewables.
Despite being energy oriented, the companies have little in common and would mean very different things for the future of the centre should their businesses take root at the former base. Iberdrola Renewables is one of the largest renewable energy firms in the world, while Laser Power Systems and RedHawk Metals is a start up company from Connecticut — during the last meeting of the Loring Development Authority Board of Trustees on April 13, representatives of both companies gave presentations on what their business could possibly accomplish at Loring.
Edward Cherian of Iberdrola Renewables informed the board of trustees about commercial scale wind energy production possibilities at Loring; the proposed wind farm could produce several hundred megawatts.
Flora informed the board that surface wind records kept by the Air Force in connection with routine airport function suggest that Loring’s wind resource is sufficient to support commercial wind energy production.
“During the construction phase of a wind farm, the airfield would offer a major advantage in that the presence of roads and taxiways makes everything easily accessible, resulting in considerable capital cost savings as compared with more remote unimproved sites,” he said, mentioning that a large scale wind farm could generate a sizeable revenue stream for the LDA and provide long-term financial support for infrastructure and future development efforts.
The downside, however, is that the erection of a wind farm would effectively shut down most all aviation uses at the centre. A wind farm of this magnitude would also require a solution to the transmission line issue (energy produced in northern Maine does not flow into the greater New England grid and would require a transmission line to connect The County with the energy grid that services the rest of New England).
The other energy company to address the board of trustees that afternoon was Laser Power Systems and RedHawk Metals, as presented by Dr. Charles Stevens. The companies will utilize laser technology with the rare element thorium to generate energy – the energy created by this technology will drive an advanced turbine/generator creating an electrical output that could be tailored for specific voltages and adapted for a variety of uses.
At Loring, it’s projected that the companies could establish a generator farm utilizing these complex technologies.
While the project has abundant potential, the companies are in the early stages of development and would first need to successfully demonstrate the technology and raise capital — though Flora didn’t anticipate the companies would have any trouble raising capital for such an intriguing project.
Loring seems to be quite attractive for potential energy projects, and a feasibility study has been initiated by The Power Company to see if solar power could have a home at the former base. This is the first solar project proposed at Loring, and the solar farm would occupy land that otherwise could not be developed (as the proposed solar farm has a minimal impact on the land it occupies).
