The Nova Scotia Business Journal
CHICAGO – The multi-million-dollar wind farm development proposed near Amherst will not be going ahead this year. Eric Schneider of Acciona Energy confirmed Friday the 30-megawatt wind farm that was supposed to go into service in November near Exit 3 of the Trans-Canada Highway will not be constructed this year.
“The project is suffering from the economic downtown. Liquidity for capital projects is scarce right now and this project is extremely capital intensive,” Schneider said. “The in-service date for that project was scheduled for November 2009. It doesn’t look like we're going to hit that and we don't have a new date.”
Acciona's proposal to erect 20 turbines on the marsh near Amherst was one of those selected by Nova Scotia Power last year as part of its pledge to use greener energy sources. The project, which includes 20 turbines, is expected to produce enough electricity to meet the power needs of 10,000 homes.
Schneider said the economic reality of the recession, coupled with volatile currency and skittish markets, is making it much more expensive to complete such large capital projects and it's making it very difficult to get financing. “Companies have to look for other ways of getting projects like this financed, whether it’s bringing in new partners or looking other options,” he said. “We’re looking at all those things.”
This is the second time Acciona has attempted to develop a wind farm near Amherst. A similar project was killed in December 2006 because rising costs meant the project was no longer viable. The company resubmitted a proposal to Nova Scotia Power in 2007 during the most recent request for proposals and entered into a 25-year power purchase agreement with the power corporation last year.
Acciona was also expected to develop windfarms across the marsh in Aulac as well as in Lameque, N.B. Both of those projects are also delayed. The Aulac project is supposed to include 43 turbines generating 64.5 megawatts - enough electricity to power 10,300 homes.
Schneider said the company is continuing to work on all three projects on things like acquiring easements and permits, but won't move ahead with construction until market conditions improve. "The permitting work is work that has to be done anyway. The hard work now will be finding the creative solutions to make the economics work and that's what we're really focused on right now," he said.
Stacey Pineau of Nova Scotia Power said the company is not aware that Acciona is not going ahead with the project this year. "I don't believe we've been formally made aware of any change to the schedule," Pineau said later Friday. "We still have our contracts in place and as far as we are aware everything is moving ahead according to the contract." – Amherst Daily News
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