TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2011 VOL. 20 NO. 163
BERLIN, N.H.
752-5858
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A dozen Coos contractors worked on wind farm BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
DUMMER – From a electrical contractor in Berlin to an equipment rental business in Gorham, a dozen contractors from Coos County worked on the construction of the Granite Reliable Power wind farm this year. Work on the largest wind farm in the state is wrapping up with all 33 wind turbines installed and in the process of being commissioned. Brookfi eld Renewable Power Director of Communications Julie Smith-Galvin said she expects the entire facility to be operating commercially by the end of this year. Smith-Galvin said there are about 35 people still employed doing limited work on site. There are also nine permanent site technicians in place to run the wind farm. Some final landscaping and stabilization work will be performed next spring. “The majority of the project will be complete and we’ll come back in the spring for tree planting and some additional restoration,” said Pip Decker, during a recent tour of the wind farm. Decker served as project manager, starting when Noble Environmental Power first proposed the wind farm and continuing when Brookfi eld Renewable Power became majority owner. Site clearing for the wind farm got underway in early February and construction started in mid-May. At the height of the construction, there were about 300 people employed on the project which is in Dummer and the unincorporated places of Millsfield, Dixville, Odell and Erving’s Location. Smith-Galvin said she is still working on getting a breakdown of local labor used on the project. But she said the general contractor on the project, RMT, Inc. of Madison, WI, said about 70 percent of the total work hours on
This picture, provided by Brookfield Renewable Power, shows some of the Granite Reliable Power wind turbines.
the project were performed by 25 contractors from New England. Of that list, 12 of the contractors were from Coos County and another three were from Grafton County. From Coos County, the contractors hired for the project were AB Logging of Lancaster, Aerial Site Communications of Gorham, Coleman Concrete of Gorham, Great North Woods Container Service of Berlin, Hicks Logging of Jefferson, Isaacson Steel of Berlin, JML Trucking and Excavating of Errol, Kel-Log Inc. of Berlin, ProQuip Equipment Rental and Sales of Gorham, Ray’s Electric of Berlin, Route 12V of Berlin, and Shaw Com-
munications of Gorham. From Grafton County, the contractors were Horizons Engineering of Littleton, Lobdell Associates of Landoff, and Meadow Leasing of Littleton. The project also contracted with the Coos County Sheriff’s Department for security. The 33-turbines are arranged in four strings along Dixville Peak, Mt. Kelsey, Owlhead Mountain, and Fishbrook Ridge. From the base to the tip of the blades, each turbine is 410 feet high. The Danish company Vestas Operations Group, which will operate the wind farm for two years, manufactured the turbines. The 3-megawatt
turbines were transported in components through the region for much of the summer. Decker said the project required the construction of 11 miles of new gravel road and the upgrading of 19 miles of existing road. Along the way, he said over 200 new culverts and six new bridges were installed. The project used a combination of wooden poles and laminated poles, ranging from 40 to 60 feet high, to carry the transmission line from the turbines to the substation. Decker said the project was able to reduce the need for guide wires by utilizing the right of way see CONTRACTORS page 9
Gorham teachers, administration at impasse on contract BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
GORHAM — Contract talks between the GRS Cooperative School Board and GRS Teacher’s Association ended last week with no new contract and both sides agreeing to put off any resolution until next year. The school board announced on Thursday that they had reached an impasse with the union and neither side would be seeking alternative resolutions. “Both sides appreciate the efforts put forth by the other, but there were issues that they mutually could not overcome,” according to a press release
issued by the SAU 20 office. Both sides waived their right to mediation or fact-finding as potential resolutions. The teachers’ last contract was approved by voters in 2010 and is valid through the 2011-2012 school year. Because that contract was negotiated and approved prior to the repeal of the state’s evergreen law, which the legislature voted off the books in early March, it remains an evergreen contract. The evergreen law, passed in 2008, allowed public workers and teachers to work under the terms of the last negotiated contract until a subsequent contract was approved. Any negotiated step increases in wages
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are maintained and wages are not frozen under this system. “The negotiating teams believe that the economic conditions for the area will improve over time and they will begin the process again next year at which time they will work together to reach common ground on their collective bargaining agreement,” the district wrote in its statement. “The school board and the association will work together to achieve the best possible outcomes for the students of the district.” Due to the holiday weekend, SAU 20 officials could not be reached for further comment.
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