Minister demands explanation for windmill collapse

The Copenhagen Post
25 February 2008

http://www.cphpost.dk/get/105852.html

The climate minister will begin an investigation into two separate cases of Vestas wind turbines collapsing within the past week

The climate minister, Connie Hedegaard, is calling for an investigation to determine the cause of two violent wind turbine collapses in Denmark in the past week. Both of the windmills were produced by Vestas, and Hedegaard's request to the Energy Board comes after other breakdowns both here and abroad have been reported in the past two months. 'The problems with the turbines abroad have had to do with poor maintenance, and if that's the case here, then I expect a clear report on how we can ensure this problem is rectified,' Hedegaard told Berlingske Tidende newspaper. Her comments come on the heels of the government's new energy agreement ratified by parliament last week, which calls for the country to have 20 percent of its energy produced by sustainable sources by 2011. In first of the two collapses, near the city of Århus, a 10-year-old windmill began spinning out of control during high winds. A recording of the explosion-like collapse shows one of the wing blades breaking off, casting debris into the three other wings and shearing the 60- metre tower nearly in half. Vestas itself will also now conduct an internal investigation to determine why the wind turbines have been breaking down. 'We've still got about 35,000 wind turbines across the globe that are operating fine,' said Peter Wenzel Kruse, Vestas's spokesperson. 'But they're not infallible. We're doing what we can and learning from our mistakes.' Farmer Keld Boye, who lives in Vig where the latest incident occurred on Sunday, was clearly shaken by the wind turbine's implosion. 'I drive my tractor and my wife rides horses out there,' he said. 'Just think if we'd been out there when it happened.' A recording of the collapse can be seen on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FZtmlHwcA

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There are Vestas turbines in use throughout the Maritime region, including Pubnico and Elmira, PEI and are planned for Pugwash.

Wind turbine not as great as it seems

To the Editor;

I was just going through the Feb. 15 issue of the Dartmouth-Cole Harbour Weekly News when I saw the picture of the moose with the windmill in the background on page 6.

While it is a fact that this is one of the area's few wind turbines and that they may be popping up throughout HRM, as a resident that lives near this wind generator, I would invite you to come and stay at my place for an evening when the wind is blowing and you can hear for yourself the noise that this ill-placed, and poorly designed wind generator makes.

I suspect you would not want one anywhere near your place after that experience.

The picture, which appears to have been taken on a nice calm day, alludes to a clean form of power generation, but no one seems to take into account noise pollution.

The house that is attached to this noise generator has never been lived in by the builder, and most likely won't be. Who would want to live next to this kind of racket?

Although I agree wind power may be a good alternative to burning fossil fuels, these generators need to be properly regulated when installed in populated areas.

It would truly be sad if your readers see that photo and decide to just install a wind generator regardless of the negative impact on the neighbours, as has been done here.

The other sad fact is that HRM requires a permit to erect one of these units, but when there are problems with the installation, as is the case here, HRM says they have no control as there are no regulations in place to follow.

In conclusion, I would sure like to see the editor do a follow up to this photo and publish an article explaining some of the pitfalls that the local residences, and the Cow Bay Moose have observed from his prime vantage point.

Wind power is a good thing, provided it is done properly and with due consideration given to the residents. This generator could be coming to a site near you and you will not be impressed, I assure you.

Bill Falconer

Cow Bay Road

Mixed reviews for wind power

COMMUNITY NEWS By KIM KIERANS

IT WAS ALL celebrations in Point Tupper at the announcement that Renewable Energy Sources Ltd. is building its first wind farm in the area.

The company’s CEO, Larry LeBlanc, told Matt Draper of the Reporter in Port Hawkesbury that the wind and concentration of industry in the Point Tupper area make it an ideal place for a wind farm.

If all goes as planned, Mr. LeBlanc said, the 11 wind turbines could be generating power by November, 2009.

Not far away across the Strait, a wind energy company from Ontario is looking to set up five or six windmills in Canso by May.

Invenergy is completing the environmental regulatory process and looking at sites in the Glasgow Head and Spinney Hill areas.

Company director Mark Bell told Andrew Rankin of the Guysborough Journal that municipalities and private landowners could earn $3 million in lease and property tax revenue from the project.

As well, the company plans to hire three people locally to maintain the windmills.

While one can appreciate the economic and environmental benefits of wind power, residents of four communities in Eastern Kings County, P.E.I., wish they had asked some tough questions.

Low-frequency noise from the wind turbines at the Eastern Kings Wind Farm has forced two families to move. Kevin and Sheila Bailey, and their son and daughter-in-law Dwaine and Dodi Bailey, left Elmira seven months ago and moved to nearby communities.

Problems started a year ago when the turbines began operating. The family members had headaches and ringing in their ears.

"My idea of noise is a horn blowing or a tractor — it disappears," Sheila Bailey told Janet MacLeod of the Eastern Graphic in Montague.

"This doesn’t disappear. Your ears ring. That goes on continuously."

"People who came to our house would stand in the yard, and their ears would pop," added Kevin Bailey.

For Dodi and Dwayne Bailey, the breaking point was when their son started waking up three and four times a night with night terrors.

The two families didn’t get any help from the provincial government so they borrowed money for the move.

"There are no rules and regulations on windmills," Paul Cheverie, chairman of the Eastern Kings Community Council said. "The more we get into it, the more we realize we jumped the gun."

He said when the wind farm was proposed, residents accepted information from government at face value.

"We were told the windmills are coming, and you don’t want to make too many waves."

Now, he wishes the community had taken a more active role before the wind farm went up in the centre of four communities.

"You can’t point fingers, and we don’t blame anyone," said Mr. Cheverie. "Now, there’s a problem, let’s try to fix it."

Creststreet to sell stake in Pubnico power project

Winds of change blow in

By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter

Atlantic Canada’s largest wind farm is up for sale.

Creststreet Power and Income Fund LP of Toronto, a significant owner of the $50-million wind farm in Pubnico Point, Yarmouth County, wants to sell its share of the development in response to the federal government’s decision to eliminate the tax benefits of trusts.

"The change in the federal income trust rules doesn’t allow trusts to grow," said Derren Newell, Creststreet’s CFO. An independent board of directors of Creststreet has set up a special committee to conduct a "strategic review" of the income fund’s two wind energy projects in Quebec and Nova Scotia, which have a total of 47 wind turbines and power generating capacity of 84.6 megawatts. Mr. Newell said the new tax rules come into effect in 2011, but the board is looking at selling the assets while renewable energy is a "hotly traded commodity" that will make sense for the unitholders of the income fund.

"The committee is looking at maximizing unitholder value," he said.

To help in the review, the committee hired CIBC World Markets Inc. and Davies Ward Phillips Vineberg.

The Harper government passed legislation last year to start taxing income trusts at corporate rates.

The proposed rules will apply a new tax on the money distributed to shareholders by newly formed income trusts and tax some of the income at corporate rates. These new rates started for trusts trading after October 2007. But existing trusts such as Creststreet were given a four-year transition period, ending in 2011. PPWF Management Ltd., Creststreet’s partner in the Pubnico wind farm and its operator, is a local firm owned by four Nova Scotians and headed by lawyer Charles Demond.

Creststreet has been a "good partner" and expects any transaction to be completed by the end of this year, said Mr. Demond, president of Atlantic Wind Power Corp., a wind developing company.

The Pubnico wind farm has 17 turbines, has been generating electricity since 2005 and sells directly to Nova Scotia Power through a long-term-power purchase agreement.

Creststreet’s recent quarterly results show that for the first nine months of 2007, Pubnico Point’s production was eight per cent below the independent engineer’s projection, compared with seven per cent the previous year.

The lower production is being blamed on lower wind speeds, according to the Creststreet report.

Jacques Whitford report to UNSM

The Jacques Whitford report for the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities was released on Monday and can be found at http://www.unsm.ca/Wind%20Turbine.html

On a quick read, it appears to be fairly well rounded and covers most concerns and issues. Of course, no one is going to be 100% pleased with it, and that is addressed in the report in that the authors recognise that this is a starting point.

There is a review of some printed/reviewed studies on turbine impacts, a comparison as to how other Municipalities/countries have dealt with turbines, options for policy approaches and a suggested model for future bylaws.

Latest from NSPI

From today's Halifax Chronicle Herald business section:

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NSP close to signing wind power deals
Negotiations with developers taking longer than expected
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter

Nova Scotia Power hopes to wrap up negotiations and sign contracts with six wind developers for eight projects within a few weeks, despite missing its own deadline last month, according to the privately-owned utility.

NSP’s deadline for signing contracts with the successful bidders was on Dec. 28, but this does not mean the company is behind schedule, or that talks aren’t proceeding well, said NSP spokeswoman Glennie Langille.

"Detailing will be in a couple of weeks," said Ms. Langille, adding the power company will not reveal the short list of bidders.

She said for a couple of the developers who are publicly traded, once they sign with NSP, they would have to make it public immediately, but the utility will not be disclosing those details.

There’s a lot at stake for the utility and the companies.

In late November, NSP president Ralph Tedesco said the utility was getting closer to making deals on green energy and expects to add 240 megawatts of new electricity generated by wind that would require $500 million in capital spending.

In March 2007 the utility issued a request for proposals for new renewable energy projects with a submission deadline of August.

Nova Scotia-based Renewable Energy Services Ltd., which already operates a number of wind turbines across the province, confirmed it is one of the successful bidders and is currently in negotiations with NSP.

Allison Leil, vice-president of the privately owned firm, said he could not make any comment about the negotiations but expects to have more to say later this week.

Halifax-based Shear Wind Inc. has indicated to securities regulators and investors it has submitted a proposal to NSP to produce up to 108 megawatts of wind generated electricity.

If successful, Shear Wind intends to construct a wind generating facility in 2008 and 2009, and start up the plant in 2009.

The site to be developed is called Glen Dhu, located on 2,420 hectares east of New Glasgow, but only part of the land would be used.

In a filing Dec. 19 with regulators, Shear Wind indicated the site has "above average" wind resources and the wind farm in the first phase could generate up to 108 megawatts of electricity.

Also, Shear Wind indicates in the documents the outcome of the bids should be known shortly and a final agreement in place in early 2008.

Shear Wind is currently generating 1.6 megawatts with two wind turbines on Fitzpatricks Mountain, just outside Scotsburn, Pictou County, under a 15-year power purchase agreement with NSP. The company has other sites in various stages of development in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

NSP hopes the contracts with the private companies will increase the amount of electricity produced by so-called green technology in this province to 20 per cent of total output by 2013.

Ottawa-based 3G Energy Corp. is proposing to build 66 turbines along a seven-kilometre stretch of the Cobequid Mountains. The company had previously indicated it submitted a proposal last summer to sell wind generated electricity to the utility.

Charles Demond, whose Atlantic Wind Power Corp. is behind a proposal in Pugwash and operates a 17-turbine farm in Lower West Pubnico, declined to comment Monday on any of his company’s proposals. However, it is believed the proposed Pugwash wind farm was one of the proposals submitted last summer to the utility.

Cape Breton Power confirms it submitted a proposal to expand its operations but it was turned down and the company is no longer in the running for an NSP contract.

The Cape Breton firm has seven wind turbines installed at its Lingan site near the NSP power plant and generates 17.4 megawatts, according to the company’s website.

The company also has two other wind turbines, one at New Aberdeen on former coal mining lands and one in Port Caledonia near Glace Bay.

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Interesting to note which wind energy companies were willing to talk to the Herald and who clammed up!!

still no news

Frustration abounds as we continue to hold our breath waiting for NSPI to make some kind of announcement as to which projects have been accepted.

There has been no update on the NSPI site since December 5th. http://oasis.nspower.ca/documents/GIP_Queue_009.pdf

This is hard on all invovled:

• There are property owners who have plans to sell, buy, build, expand or renovate on hold.
• There are landowners who have signed leases to wind energy companies who do not know if they have this nice income to look forward to (generally $4,000 per turbine) or, alternatively, if they can accept other purchase or development deals on offer.
• There are Municipalities who stand to gain from taxes ($5,500 per mega watt) who would like to work on future budgets.
• And we mustn't forget the wind energy companies who must have their projects online for NSPI by the end of '09. The demand for turbines (from Denmark or Germany) is so backed up, that they stand to have to wait 1-2 years for an order to be filled, which is leaving things pretty tight for time.

The only news, which came about a month ago, is that letters of acceptance have been sent to six companies for eight projects. Therefore, most probably, there are two companies that have successfully been awarded two projects each. Mathematically, one company could have been awarded three projects, but that is unlikely.

There are a lot of people keeping mum over last minute wheeling and dealing. Corporate lawyers on both sides are attempting to sweeten the deal for their clients. Larger companies, with projects pending elsewhere and bigger investment companies funding their projects, can afford to take the risk and order their turbines. Smaller companies (again disadvantaged by the way this whole system is set up) don't dare take that same risk.

In the meanwhile, the rest of us scurry around getting ready for Christmas and hope for the best. Perhaps by the New Year we will have a better idea of what is going on.

Merry Christmas everyone.