Trenton wind turbine company set to start production in spring

By The Canadian Press
Thu, Jan 20 - 4:54 AM

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Inc. is on schedule to begin manufacturing wind turbine components at its plant in Trenton this spring, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

Brad Murray said work on the steel tower components of the wind turbines is scheduled to begin in May after new equipment has been installed at the former TrentonWorks rail car plant.

Murray said old equipment in the plant has been removed and the installation of the new equipment is set to begin on Friday.

He said several large pieces will be arriving in coming weeks including heavy lift cranes and welding equipment.

Conversion of the plant began last August and Murray said the company experienced only a few "minor delays" related to negotiations with equipment suppliers.

"We are pretty well on budget with what was anticipated," said Murray.

Last March the province put $60 million into the $90 million deal for the plant with the South Korean manufacturing giant, acquiring a 49 per cent equity stake in the process.

The deal included $30 million over 15 years for new equipment for the construction of the turbines.

When the deal was announced officials said the project would likely create up to 500 jobs over three years.

Murray said the facility currently has 36 employees including 20 support staff and 16 plant workers consisting of millwrights, electricians, carpenters and engineers. Of the total, 13 are former TrentonWorks employees.

He said further recruitment is underway and it’s expected about 130 workers will be hired by the time production begins on the turbine towers.

Up to 400 workers are expected to be hired by the time the operation is ready to manufacture turbine blades by the end of the year.

The Trenton operation will be Daewoo Shipbuilding’s first foray into manufacturing for the wind energy sector.

Murray wouldn’t reveal whether the plant has any business lined up once it’s ready to build components.

"Right now the market is a little soft, but there are potential projects that we may have the opportunity to tap into," he said. "We will be competing with companies that are in operation so we have those challenges as well."

He said the plant would likely find markets in Atlantic Canada, Ontario, the northeastern United States and Alberta.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1222875.html

How McGuinty’s windmill dreams became a nightmare

By Thomas Walkom National Affairs Columnist
Toronto Star

When Dalton McGuinty embraced wind power four years ago, it seemed he couldn’t lose.

Politically, his support for this infinitely renewable form of energy put the Ontario premier firmly on the side of the environmental angels.

Even more important, McGuinty’s Liberals pitched their commitment to wind as part of a comprehensive, green industrial strategy.

The government would not merely use wind turbines to generate electricity. It would also subsidize firms to build the giant machines for export.

In effect, windmills would be to the new Ontario what autos were to the old — the province’s economic driver.

Critics of the premier’s ambitious schemes were dismissed as cranks and nutters infected with a not-in-my-backyard syndrome.

To ensure that these self-seekers and know-nothings didn’t interfere with the government’s bold plans, Queen’s Park stripped municipal councils of their power to regulate wind turbines.

On paper, the plan seemed a sure winner.

But that was before Dr. Bob McMurtry.

McMurtry is neither a crank nor a nutter. An orthopedic surgeon and former dean of medicine at London’s University of Western Ontario, he is part of the country’s medical and political establishment.

He’s acted as a health advisor to the former federal Liberal government. In the early 2000s, he was a key advisor to Roy Romanow’s royal commission into Medicare.

McMurtry’s brother, Roy — a Red Tory and former attorney general — was Ontario’s chief justice for 11 years.

Bob McMurtry began as a strong advocate of wind power, keen to have a turbine built on the 16-hectare Eastern Ontario farm he bought four years ago for retirement.

As he explained in a telephone interview this week, he hoped to generate his own power and sell the rest to Ontario’s electricity network.

But being a scientific sort of chap, McMurtry began by researching the issue.

What he discovered alarmed him. In particular, he ran into evidence — re-enforced by personal encounters later — that low-frequency humming associated with wind turbines may lead to chronic sleeplessness, stress and even hypertension causing heart disease for anyone living within two kilometres of a machine.

What alarmed him more was that the provincial government did not even monitor this low-frequency noise. As well, under Ontario rules, giant windmills need be no more than 550 metres from any residence.

So in 2009, he made the not terribly radical suggestion that Queen’s Park conduct a proper, arms-length study on the health effects of industrial wind turbines before authorizing any more.

Failing that, he said, it should insist that new turbines be set at least two kilometres away from any dwelling.

The wind industry was outraged. Fearful of being enmeshed in red tape, wind power firms argued strongly against such a study. Their case was bolstered last May after provincial medical officer of health Dr. Arlene King issued a report saying no scientific evidence exists to show that wind turbines harm human health.

McMurtry countered that this is because no one has ever conducted a proper study — which is why he wants one.

Those interested in the dueling scientific arguments can find King’s report on the Ontario government website and McMurtry’s response at www.windvigilance.com.

But regardless of who wins the substantive debate, McGuinty’s windmill dreams have already become political nightmares.

Dozens of rural municipal councils, angered by the province’s decision to take away their regulatory authority, have passed motions of complaint.

Even the Ontario Federation of Agriculture — which represents farmers who rent their land to wind firms — has called for a moratorium on new turbines until a serious health study can be done.

The opposition Conservatives smell blood.

Trotting around through all of this is the unassuming Bob McMurtry.

He heads up a new international body of doctors and scientists investigating wind power called the Society for Wind Vigilance. Throughout small-town Ontario, he is in great demand as a speaker.

“There’s a real level of anger there,” he told me. “Rural Ontario is on fire.”

http://www.thestar.com/article/922197--walkom-how-mcguinty-s-windmill-dreams-became-a-nightmare

Untendered contract draws criticism for NSP

‘Deal smacks of preferential treatment,’ Avon Group claims in URB submission
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Sat, Jan 15 - 4:54 AM

Nova Scotia Power came in for more criticism Friday as a group of its biggest customers strongly objected to an untendered $25-million construction contract and $1-million bonus awarded to an affiliate company in a wind farm deal last year.

The Avon Group doesn’t want Nova Scotia Power’s customers to have to pay for the million-dollar bonus to Emera Utility Services Inc., and it also wants to disallow $1.5 million of the construction contract for the Digby wind farm, the group states in a submission to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

"The deal smacks of preferential treatment," Halifax lawyer Nancy Rubin, representing the Avon Group, wrote in a seven-page letter filed Friday.

Last year, Nova Scotia Power purchased the 20-turbine Digby wind farm from another affiliate, 3240384 Nova Scotia Ltd., and is now seeking review board approval to pass along the $82.7-million cost of buying the assets and development rights.

The original developer of the Digby wind farm, Sky Power, went into creditor protection in August 2009, and then the numbered company, set up by Nova Scotia Power’s parent company Emera Inc., took over the project.

Subsequently, Emera Utility Services, another subsidiary of Emera Inc., was given the untendered $25-million construction contract and was later handed a $1-million bonus for completing the wind farm last month. The wind farm is now generating electricity.

Rubin argued that Nova Scotia Power broke the code of conduct it adopted in June 2009. That code was intended to ensure that Nova Scotia Power’s transactions with its affiliates were "designed and carried out to produce demonstrable benefit to Nova Scotia Power customers."

Rubin wrote: "It is extremely difficult to be satisfied that the Emera Utility Services lump-sum price is the best price for Nova Scotia Power customers."

Nova Scotia Power has defended its awarding of the untendered contract and the bonus, arguing that its customers received the "best value" because stopping work on the project would have prevented it from being completed on time. And if a substantial amount of the work had not been finished by last March, federal government incentives totalling almost $10 million over the life of the project would have been lost, the utility said.

"The transactions between Nova Scotia Power and its affiliates have served to preserve benefits to customers and demonstrate that Nova Scotia Power proceeded with the best option available at the time," the company said.

The review board can approve, reject or place conditions on the utility’s request to recover the $82.7 million in project costs from its customers.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1222155.html

Shear Wind focused on erecting turbines

Company facing deadline to deliver power to NSP
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu, Jan 13 - 4:54 AM

The president of Nova Scotia’s largest wind farm says his company is concentrating its energy these days on erecting the last 18 of the 27 turbines that will make up the $150-million Glen Dhu Wind energy project.

All of the components for the German-manufactured turbines have arrived and it’s just a matter of getting "them all erected," Mike Magnus of Shear Wind Inc. said in an interview Wednesday.

"Hopefully the weather holds out."

The company has three cranes on site working to erect the gigantic turbines. Magnus is hoping to get "two or three" in place in each of the next few weeks so that Shear Wind can meet its March 31 deadline of producing 60-megawatts of power for Nova Scotia Power.

The company already has nine turbines operating on the site, which straddles the Pictou-Antigonish county boundary.

Originally, Shear Wind planned on having the 27 turbines up and running by the end of December 2009, but it ran into financial troubles during the global recession that prevented it from securing financing for the capital-intensive project until late last year.

That’s when Inveravante, a privately held Spanish utility conglomerate, bought a 62 per cent stake in Shear Wind for $27 million, and a new deal was worked out with Nova Scotia Power that gave Shear Wind new deadlines for the production of power.

The Bedford renewable energy company met the first of those deadlines by producing 20 megawatts of green energy from the site by Dec. 31. That enabled the company to avoid paying Nova Scotia Power a $1.5 million penalty.

Magnus announced the company is moving its annual shareholder meeting to April 5 from Feb. 1 so that it will coincide with the completion of the Glen Dhu project.

The company also announced it has extended a stock option for Magnus to purchase one million shares at 30 cents, from now until June 26, 2012.

Options are "an incentive for any type of manager," Mangus said. "The reality is the options are all part of joining a company. Building a company is a significant task and you don’t build it in one or two years."

Shear Wind stock was trading up two cents a share Wednesday on the Toronto Stock exchange at 30 cents a share.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1221682.html

Solar industry fears rebate loss

Agency overseeing program to close end of March
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Fri, Jan 14 - 4:54 AM

Nova Scotia’s solar industry is concerned the plug may be pulled on the province’s solar rebate program.

That’s because Conserve Nova Scotia, the agency overseeing the solar rebate program, will shut its doors on March 31 and all of its 50 rebates and programs are being reviewed.

"We are all on pins and needles as to what is going to happen next," Richard Vinson, vice-chairman of Solar Nova Scotia, said Thursday.

Solar Nova Scotia is a lobby group that represents the industry.

Vinson said the rebates are important for building a viable solar industry in the province.

The rebate is $1,250 "but that makes a big difference to homeowners and it’s also a major marketing incentive," he said. Losing it would be "a big deal for the solar industry in this province."

And it would follow on the heels of the federal government’s decision last March to do away with its rebates for energy efficiency a year ahead of schedule.

"The industry is staying alive but not by a whole lot," said Vinson, who also owns Halifax-based Creative Solar.

Conserve Nova Scotia, formed four years ago, is being replaced by Efficiency Nova Scotia, which began operation on Jan 1. 2010 and has $41.9 million budget that is paid by Nova Scotia Power customers through a surcharge on power bills of almost three per cent. (In 2012, the budget is expected to increase to $61-million for energy conservation in the province.)

The rebate programs offered by Conserve Nova Scotia are still under review "so there has been no decision on them," spokeswoman Kim Silver said.

She said once the review is completed "we’ll make decisions whether programs will be transferred to other departments, maybe contracted to Efficiency Nova Scotia, end or be changed."

Silver did not say when the review would be completed.

Anyone interested in taking advantage of the programs should apply sooner rather than later, she said.

During the 2009-2010 fiscal year, Conserve Nova Scotia spent $465,392 providing a 15 per cent rebate on solar thermal panels for commercial, residential and industrial, according to Conserve Nova Scotia’s annual report released in June 2010.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1221918.html

Scotsburn company fined for securities violations

By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
Fri, Jan 14 - 4:54 AM

Northumberland Wind Field Inc. has been ordered to pay a $5,000 penalty for contravening Nova Scotia securities and economic development regulations.

The Scotsburn corporation admitted Thursday in a hearing before commissioner Walter Thompson that it didn’t tell investors it was to be operated as a blind pool — a limited partnership that doesn’t specify the properties the general partner plans to acquire — rather than as an active company.

It also acknowledged that it didn’t disclose it would use capital raised in a 2007 public offering to invest in other wind fields.

Northumberland used $118,774 of $187,290 raised from 42 investors to buy into Colchester-Cumberland Wind Field Inc., Fundy Tidal Inc., Wind Horse Power Inc. and Scotian WindFields Inc.

It spent $87,774 of the money on 500,000 shares of Scotian WindFields.

The commission concluded that Northumberland didn’t intentionally violate the Securities Act or mislead investors on purpose.

Corporation president Sharon Henderson, who participated in the hearing by teleconference from Scotsburn, called the infractions an inadvertent error by past management.

She acknowledged that the securities violations were a negative for Northumberland but said investors remain confident in the corporation and its plans to build wind turbines.

Northumberland, which said in August that it intended to have a wind turbine up and running in Pictou County within two years, was charged a $4,000 administrative penalty and $1,000 in costs.

In other commission hearings Thursday, two insiders — people with access to key information before it is made public — with The Helical Corp., a Halifax software company, were each ordered to pay $2,500 in penalties and $500 in costs for failing to register as insiders.

According to an agreed statement, William Fleming admitted he violated the Securities Act by failing to register as an insider after buying 60,000 common Helical shares on Sept. 15, 2006, for $1,900.

Under securities regulations, he was required to file a report on the purchase within 10 days of the end of September 2006.

Fleming sold the shares for $1,800 on Jan. 15, 2007, when he was no longer an insider.

The commission ruled Fleming wasn’t aware he had to register as an insider or file insider reports on trades and hadn’t intentionally violated the act or deliberately misled investors.

Emeric Neil Black bought 115,000 Helical shares on May 6, 2005, while he was a company director, making him an insider. He sold 10,000 shares on Sept. 2, 2005, and 50,000 shares on Dec. 14, 2005, without filing insider trading reports, according to an agreed statement.

The commission concluded that Black didn’t deliberately violate the Securities Act or intentionally mislead investors.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1221911.html

Wind turbines must be moved

Proposed towers pose problems, says province
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Wed, Jan 12 - 4:53 AM

The developers of a proposed $60-million wind farm near Hampton in Annapolis County "must go back to the drawing board" and relocate four turbines that are considered to be too close to cottages, says an Environment Department official.

Toronto-based Sprott Power Corp. was given provincial environmental approval to install 12 two-megawatt towers but has to move four turbines that may interfere with recreational enjoyment and health, states a ministerial decision released Monday.

Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau ordered the relocation of the Hampton Mountain wind project turbines, and this will require consultation with the Environment Department regarding noise and separation distances.

One of the turbines is located less than 400 metres from a cottage, and the owner has complained, while the other turbines are between 400 and 700 metres from cottages, said Peter Geddes, manager of environmental assessment for the department, on Tuesday.

"They’ll have to take a look at another place because quite a number of the seasonal cottages are (within) 400 metres to 600 metres."

Geddes said the project received municipal approval before any limitations on setback distances for wind farms has been regulated.

Jeff Jenner, president of Sprott Power, said he hopes it will not be necessary to relocate the turbines.

"That is the condition in the permit, but we have already provided the ministry with information to address their concerns and so, hopefully, we have addressed their concerns (and will) not have to relocate those turbines," Jenner said in a telephone interview late Monday afternoon from Toronto.

He said the department has raised concerns about the noise and proximity of the turbines.

"We have already addressed those items and we are going to re-address those items through the process," Jenner said.

The turbines are set back 700 metres from any dwellings, which the company believes is "sufficient," he said.

Geddes said the 700-metre distance refers to the setback from permanent dwellings, not the seasonal properties.

The company must resubmit new locations to the Environment Department, which may require further assessment, the decision states.

It also stipulates that prior to clearing and construction, Sprott must conduct a Mi’kmaq ecological knowledge study unless otherwise approved by the Environment Department.

The company must also develop and implement a noise monitoring plan prior to the Hampton Mountain project becoming operational. It must also have a plan to monitor shadow flicker to the "satisfaction" of the department.

The project is located about four kilometres north of the town of Bridgetown.

In its application to government, the developer indicates it hopes to have a buyer for the green electricity by March.

While the project has no immediate customers, Jenner said the company has been in discussions with the local municipal electricity utility and Nova Scotia Power.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1221525.html

NSP customers asked to pay for untendered wind contract

Consumer advocate: Emera gave contract to affiliate, failed to get lowest price
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu, Jan 6 - 4:54 AM

Nova Scotia Power customers are being asked to pay for an untendered $25-million construction contract, along with a $1-million bonus, to an affiliate of its parent company, Emera Inc. The contract is for the development of the Digby wind farm.

The utility has failed to get the lowest price for its customers, John Merrick, Nova Scotia’s consumer advocate, said during the first day of a hearing before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

"I’m not sure they kicked the tires hard enough to make sure they got that best possible price," Merrick told reporters outside the hearing room. "Nova Scotia Power really has to be thinking about the ratepayers and not just (Emera) shareholders."

Emera Utility Services Inc., a subsidiary of Halifax-based Emera, was awarded the $25-million contract to oversee construction of the $82.7-million Digby wind farm project last year.

The 20-turbine wind farm is currently operating and produces enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.

The power utility is seeking board approval to pass along the construction costs to build the green project to its 470,000 customers. The review board can approve the expenditure, approve with conditions, or reject the request.

Board vice-chairwoman Margaret Shears raised concerns about the $82.7-million wind farm deal and the lack of evidence presented by the utility to prove that the $25-million construction contract was the best deal for ratepayers.

She said the board has little evidence, other than the utility’s opinion "that it’s the best price Nova Scotia Power could have gotten."

She said the board brought in the affiliate code of conduct years ago after Nova Scotia Power failed to properly tender contracts to ensure the lowest prices for its customers.

The board needs to ensure these big expenditures are in the best interest of ratepayers because they will "shoulder the cost of it," she said.

Nova Scotia Power president Rob Bennett defended awarding the contract to a sister company, saying the project was built on time and on budget.

"Nova Scotia Power’s engagement of affiliates provided demonstrable benefits to our customers," Bennett said in an opening statement to the board.

Merrick said Nova Scotia Power executives argue the contract provided customers with the "equivalent" price in the marketplace.

"Asking someone to match the price is not the same as asking someone to give their best price. They’re lowest price, that’s the test that should be applied."

Merrick wants the board to determine whether Nova Scotia Power has not complied with the affiliate code of conduct, which stipulates the lowest price must always be reasonable and justifiable, especially when dealing with other related companies.

He also called the "bonus" suspicious, considering it was to be awarded as an incentive to have the work completed before the Dec. 20, 2010, deadline. Some of the turbines started generating power in late November and the remainder were installed by the contract completion date of Dec. 20, 2010.

Emera originally picked up the struggling wind farm project in 2009 and took full control in February 2010 from Interwinds Corp. (formerly SkyPower) and Scotian Windfields, using a numbered company, 3240384 Nova Scotia Ltd., headed by Emera president Chris Huskilson.

In June, Emera transferred the assets of the numbered company to Nova Scotia Power, which now is looking to have these costs picked up by its customers.

The hearing wrapped up late Wednesday.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1220408.html

Five Nuttby turbines taken out of service for repairs

Windmills moving too much between base, foundation, NSP discovers
By EVA HOARE Staff Reporter
Thu, Jan 6 - 4:54 AM

The second-largest wind farm in the province has run into some trouble.

Five of 22 turbines at the $120-million Nuttby Mountain project were moving back and forth too much, a problem that was discovered during checks that were conducted within the last month.

"At one of these site checks, (they found) that’s there’s more movement between the base and the foundation of these turbines than we’d like to see," Nova Scotia Power spokeswoman Patty Faith said in an interview Wednesday.

The movement would be "very, very minute," as in the millimetre range, she said.

There are "hairlines" in the bases of the affected turbines, but Faith stressed they were not cracks in the turbines’ foundations.

"What has occurred is that movement has caused more of a cosmetic type of thing," she said. "The naked eye wouldn’t be able to determine it."

The turbine builders would have the information on the exact cause of the movement, which is graded during maintenance checks, she said. Anything from levels one to four is acceptable.

Faith did not have the number for the levels detected on the troubled turbines.

It takes three days to repair each of the affected turbines, she said.

Taxpayers and the power company will not have to pay for the repairs because Enercon, which installed the turbines, would foot that bill, she said. "This was all within the confines of our warranty."

The exact cost to fix the problem wasn’t known Wednesday evening. Faith said it’s unlikely the information would have been provided to the power company.

Because the farm was up and running ahead of schedule, Faith doesn’t believe the downtime required to fix the five turbines will "have a dramatic impact" on the utility’s energy goals for the site.

Another wind farm in Digby underwent the same maintenance routine and all was fine.

The Nuttby Mountain project is expected to be able to power 15,000 homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 114,000 tonnes per year, Nova Scotia Power’s website said.

Financial troubles drove Nuttby Mountain’s initial developer — EarthFirst Canada Inc. of Calgary — into bankruptcy. Nova Scotia power picked up the development rights to the project in April 2009.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1220400.html