Wind power's growth in Maine, 2007-2015
In the years since the state's first wind farm opened on Mars Hill, wind power has grown considerably as a source of electricity in Maine.
The chart below shows Maine's total electricity production from wind power for each month since April 2007, when the state's first wind farm opened on Mars Hill, along with the dates that major wind farms have opened (mouse over the turbine icons to see details for each project).
Wind power now accounts for roughly 10 percent of Maine’s total electricity production in any given month, up from 1 to 2 percent when the first farms were built.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
Note: this chart excludes smaller wind farms with a capacity of less than 5 megawatts, such as Fox Island Wind in Vinalhaven. A "megawatt-hour" is the cumulative amount of electricity produced from a 1-megawatt power plant running continuously for one hour. One "gigawatt-hour" is equivalent to 1,000 megawatt-hours, enough to power 300 typical Maine homes for a year.