Sprague Energy is planning a significant renovation to Mack Point in Searsport, Maine, to support the burgeoning offshore wind system. The proposal involves installing supplement technology to support the expansion of the state’s offshore wind capabilities.
The plan will make the terminal’s existing infrastructure more carbon-neutral, adding assembling areas to support wind turbine components. A new dock will also be added, with a 35-foot dredge for Mean Low Water, the average water level at low tide. An upgraded launching dock will be added for tug boats.
Cranes will also be upgraded to lift turbine blades onto vessels. A 10-acre rail yard will be added, and renovations will be made to the rail system.
“The Sprague Energy Mack Point Terminal alternative preserves all of our current operations and minimizes dredging and wetland impact while leveraging a facility with over 20 years of wind component handling experience,” James Therriault, vice president of materials handling at Sprague, said in a press release. “Our Mack Point terminal has been operating in Maine since 1905. By reimagining this industrial site, we can play an integral role in achieving Maine’s offshore wind energy generation goals.”
Photo Courtesy Sprague Energy
The Maine Offshore Wind Initiative is receiving the most benefit from this project. Searsport is an ideal location for offshore wind generation and component assembly. It’s right on the coast, next to the 941-acre Sears Island, identified as a key area for offshore wind. Thanks to a deepwater channel to Sprague’s terminal, it can make wind turbine deliveries easier and less costly.
Sprague ensured this plan would be the least impactful to Sears Island, which the Maine Coast Heritage Trust protects.
The wind power assembly and distribution area will see 100 acres of natural habitat protected. The natural area will have a dedicated entrance separate from wind power plant activities.
Rolf E. Olsen, vice president of Friends of Sears Island, a nonprofit organization that preserves the area, supports Sprague’s redevelopment plan. It saved around 75 acres of land that would’ve otherwise been cleared for a wind power plant.
In February, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed off on Sears Island for the wind port. She believed that the economic and environmental benefits justified clearing forest land. She said it was “not an easy decision, nor is it one that [she] made lightly.” Her administration considered Sears Island and Mack Point necessary for Maine’s clean-energy sector.
Photo Courtesy Sprague Energy
“For more than two years, my administration has evaluated Sears Island and Mack Point thoroughly and with an open mind, recognizing that each site has its own set of benefits and its own set of drawbacks,” the governor explained in a statement.
“Building a wind port on Sears Island means more than 75 acres of upland forest will be cleared, graded, and compacted,” Olsen said in a statement. “It also means filling 25 acres of pristine Penobscot Bay to extend the shoreline where a previously protected ocean sand dune is located.”
“That estimate by the state does not include the additional impact from a new and greatly expanded approach road and rail bed to get to the facility,” he continued. “This seriously damages the island’s ecological, recreational, and economic value. Re-developing Mack Point — which has thrived as an industrial site for more than a century — is a far better and less disruptive decision, and the state has previously stated that it meets the requirements for the port.”
