A new wind energy farm has come online in the Western Maine town of Roxbury, marking the fourth such project in Oxford County. 

At just over 15 megawatts in capacity, the RoxWind project is one of the smallest of Maine’s 18 land-based wind farms, according to federal data. 

The project’s developer, New York-based Greenbacker Renewables, says in a press release that the Roxbury array comprises four turbines with blades 137 meters in diameter. 

It’s the first asset the company has finished in Maine, ahead of four other renewable projects elsewhere in the state. Company officials say it’s also the largest in their fleet by capacity and turbine size. 

Maine has just under a gigawatt of land-based wind currently operating. The average project is more than three times the size of RoxWind, and a handful are much larger. 

Maine’s utilities are required to get 80% of their power from renewable sources by 2030 as part of the state’s goals to sharply reduce carbon emissions and offset the effects of climate change.

The state Public Utilities Commission is currently seeking bids for large-scale wind, solar and biomass projects in Aroostook County, as well as a transmission line to make it economical to export the energy directly to the rest of the New England grid. 

Combined with longer-term efforts to build large offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine, it could significantly increase the amount of wind energy the state generates in the coming years.