If you are to go to the Eastern Promenade in Portland and look to the north across the blue waters of Casco Bay, on most days except in extreme fog, the large smoke stack on a distant island will be visible. As a child, this smokestack intrigued me. At that time, not only could you see the smoke stack, but you could also see two of the U.S. Navy's Maritime Pre-Positioning ships anchored nearby in Casco Bay. The ships are now gone, but the smoke stack is still there.
I recently did some research on the smoke stack, and found out that it belongs to a privately owned company and is known as a peaking-power station. What a peaking-power station does is provide an extra boost of electricity to the local power grid during times of high usage such as afternoons and early evenings, and very hot days during the summer time. This particular peaking-power plant is located on Cousins Island, which is part of the town of Yarmouth, ME and provides peaking-power to the greater Portland, ME area.
Wyman Peaking-Power Plant, Yarmouth, Maine
There are two general types of peaking power plants found in the United States. One, which is called a cogeneration plant is mainly fired by coal and typically are found in the coal producing areas of the country such as Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Again, as a child, and driving with my family to relatives homes in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I saw many of THESE smoke stacks on the mountain sides which had been destroyed and left barren by strip mines.
Co-Gen Plant, Pennsylvania
The peaking-power station on Cousins Island however, is a gas turbine. Gas turbines are pretty much a very large jet engine. Gas turbines have the advantage of being able to be turned on at the flick of a switch and have instantaneous full power. The United States Navy uses gas turbines to power 95% of it's surface fleet. Gas turbines also power the U.S. Army and Marine Corps' M1 Abrams main battle tank. The primary disadvantage to a gas turbine is that it literally sucks fuel down at an astonishing rate.
Gas Turbine Combines Cycle
Most of these plants burn natural gas however some burn liquid fuels such as diesel fuel or gasoline as well.
Remember that generally in the north things are cold and in the west it is much warmer. Unfortunately I was unable to enter the power plant to place my cache, so it has been placed not a far distance from the smoke stack. On your way to the cache location you will certainly pass the well marked entrance to the plant.
Please use extreme stealth. Cache location is a public area, with very little parking and very busy during the summer months.