Mars Hill is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

located in Mars Hill,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, and gave the town its name. The mountain plays an important role in the Mars Hill community, and overlooks the Saint John Valley.

Mount Katahdin Mount Katahdin ( ) is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Maine at . Named Katahdin, which means "Great Mountain", by the Penobscot Native Americans, it is within Northeast Piscataquis, Piscataquis County, and is the centerpiece of B ...

is visible from the top of Mars Hill over 85 miles (135 km) away. Mars Hill also has a ski area, called Big Rock Ski Area. By virtue of its height and Northeast location, the summit of Mars Hill is the first place in the contiguous United States to see the Sun rise for nearly half of the year, from March 25 to September 18. The first 50-star flag to see the Sun in the U.S. was raised on July 4, 1960, at 4:33 AM. Fifty national guardsmen gave it a 50-gun salute.

Wind farm

Mars Hill underwent an $85 million

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

project in the fall of 2006.

First Wind First Wind was an independent renewable energy company. It developed and operated utility-scale power projects in the United States. At its height, First Wind employed more than 220 workers. Headquartered in Boston, the company developed and ope ...

installed 28

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

1.5

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

turbines along the top and northern sections of the mountain. With a

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

of 35%, the wind farm generates about 130 million

kilowatt hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...

s (kW·h) per year (15 MW·yr/yr). The wind turbines are assembled in multiple parts. The towers, which are composed of three support sections stacked one on top of another with a combined weight of 20,000 pounds, are 262 ft (80 m) tall. The three blades (together, a rotor) attached to the hub of the turbine each span approximately 115 ft (37.5 m), for a rotor diameter of approximately 250 feet — comparable to the

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

of a

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

747 747 may refer to: * 747 (number), a composite number * AD 747, a year of the Julian calendar * 747 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 747, a large commercial plane Arts and media * 747s (band), an indie band * ''747'' (album), by country m ...

jet-liner.

Notes

External links

*
peakbagger.com: Mars Hill

Mars Hill Wind Farm Webcam

slideshow of Mars Hill Wind Farm
{{Mountains of Maine Mountains of Maine Wind farms in Maine Landforms of Aroostook County, Maine

Wind farm

See also

Notes

External links