Maine Company Powers 25,000 Homes With Old Radar Base

A Cold War radar station that once watched for enemy threats is now sending clean energy to thousands of Maine families.

The Cianbro Companies, an employee-owned construction firm based in Pittsfield, Maine, bought the abandoned 1,400-acre Moscow Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar Base in 2012. The U.S. Air Force had used the remote site to detect aircraft and missile threats before shutting it down in the early 2000s.

Instead of letting it sit empty, Cianbro saw potential. The company erected 14 massive wind turbines across the property, creating a wind farm that generates 58.8 megawatts of clean electricity every year.

That's enough power for 25,000 Maine homes. The company even renovated one of the original buildings on site to serve as an operations center, powered entirely by the wind turbines it maintains.

Founded by four brothers in the 1940s, Cianbro has grown from a small local operation to the fourth-largest 100% employee-owned construction company in America with over 4,000 workers. The company specializes in energy infrastructure projects across the country.

But Maine remains a testing ground for their most ambitious ideas. In Pittsfield, Cianbro operates Maine's largest solar facility with over 40,000 panels powering 6,500 homes.

The company is now adding a thermal energy storage system to that solar field, making it easier to store sunshine for cloudy days. They've also filed for permits to build a 500-megawatt "water battery" that would pump water uphill when power is cheap, then release it through turbines when demand spikes.

The Ripple Effect

Energy storage solves a critical problem with renewable power. Wind and solar generate electricity only when nature cooperates, but people need power around the clock.

Pumped storage hydropower, the technology behind Cianbro's proposed water battery, has worked reliably for over a century. It can deliver electricity regardless of weather or time of day, stabilizing the grid while bringing costs down.

Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, says solutions like this address energy affordability directly. "Electricity demand across the country and on our shared grid is going to go up significantly," she told the Maine Monitor.

Beyond energy, Cianbro brings efficiency thinking to every project. When they demolished Bangor's old auditorium in 2013, they recycled all materials and donated furniture to local organizations like the Boy Scouts and YMCA.

Their 2019 headquarters project for Bangor Savings Bank included 500-foot geothermal wells for heating and cooling, plus rooftop solar panels meeting 70% of the building's energy needs.

Old military bases and new wind farms prove that yesterday's infrastructure can power tomorrow's clean future.