Digby Wind farm heads to assessment phase

Jeanne Whitehead, Digby Courier

SkyPower Corp. and Scotian Windfields Inc., who plan to construct a 20-turbine wind farm in the Gulliver’s Cove area this year, are expected to officially registered the project for environmental assessment April 30.

SkyPower is inviting the public to submit written comments to Nova Scotia’s Environmental Assessment Branch on or before May 30.

An advertisement in this issue of The Digby Courier also states that construction is planned to start in September with the 30-megawatt facility becoming operational next spring.

The timeline reflects a delay in the original goal. When the project was announced last May, the developers stated the wind field would be supplying electricity to Nova Scotia Power by the end of this year.

Over the past year, a number of Digby Neck residents have expressed opposition to the project. They say they are not opposed to wind power, but that turbines should be far enough from homes that they do not affect the quality of life for residents.

Those opposing the current project have said noise and ‘infra-noise’ produced by turbines may cause headaches, insomnia, heart palpitations, stress, anxiety and depression for people living close to the turbines. They also worry that the flicker effect of the turbines may trigger seizures in a resident who suffers from epilepsy.

Dr. Robert McMurtry, the former dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario, last week called on the Ontario government for a moratorium on the construction of wind turbines until studies on the safety or potential harm of wind turbines have been conducted.

McMurtry quoted from an informal survey of 76 people who live near wind turbines. At least one health complaint—which they believed was the result of the turbines—was reported by 53 of the respondents.

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-331625-Wind-farm-heads-to-assessment-phase.html

NSP wasn’t left just blowing in the wind

ROGER TAYLOR

Chronicle Herald, Business

I HAD THE IMPRESSION the provincial government restricted Nova Scotia Power Inc. from getting directly involved in wind generation, but the real answer is more complicated than that.

It turns out Nova Scotia Power always had the ability to build its own wind farm, according to an Energy Department spokesman who called me on Friday to clarify the issue.

In my Friday column, I indicated the government had relaxed its rules to allow the power company to acquire a wind farm. I thought the government’s original plan was for Nova Scotia Power to acquire green power from a number of independent power producers, rather than allow it to further expand its control over power production in Nova Scotia by developing its own sources of renewable energy.

Part of reason for the misunderstanding comes from the energy minister himself.

In a report that aired on the CBC on March 16, Energy Minister Barry Barnet said allowing Nova Scotia Power to invest in independent wind power producers would help solve a cash crunch faced by many of the independent power producers and, at the same time, help the power company develop green energy vendors that would allow the utility to meet its renewable energy targets.

"I think there was kind of a mutual coming-of-the-minds that this is the way we can meet each other’s objectives," Barnet was quoted by the CBC. "It’s imbedded within the regulation and I’m not sure why it was put in there in the first place. The idea was to have the independent producers have the ability to operate separately from Nova Scotia Power."

Earlier this week, rather than simply investing in an independent power producer, it was revealed the power company had acquired all of the rights to a proposed wind farm on Nuttby Mountain from a financially troubled, independent power developer.

Energy Department spokesman Matthew Lumley told me on Friday that Nova Scotia Power always had the right to build its own sources of renewable power. Whatever green power NSP produces, however, would not be included when calculating the amount of green energy it acquires from independent power producers.

According the renewable power regulations, the power company is required to hit targets for acquiring power from independent producers by 2010. And a second overall green energy target, which could include renewable power Nova Scotia Power produces itself by the year 2013.

If it doesn’t meet the renewable power targets, he says, Nova Scotia Power will face a financial penalties.

Earlier this year the power company signed deals with a number of independent producers to bring wind energy on line by the end of the year. Nuttby Mountain was among those projects.

Now that Nova Scotia Power owns the Nuttby project its electrical production won’t be allowed to be included when determining how much green power the utility acquires from independent power producers, Lumley says.

The government’s goal is to find a way of getting more green energy onto the grid, says Lumley.

The government is very aware of Nova Scotia’s heavy reliance on coal-based fuels for power generation and therefore wanted to "green the grid," he says.

But that goal has to be achieved in a way that is sensitive to the needs of people on fixed incomes, seniors and small and large businesses that are particularly sensitive to changes in power rates.

Lumley admits the efforts, and the regulations that go with it, to generate electricity from more renewable energy can seem complicated. "If you lift one hat . . . it’s like there are 15 more hats underneath it."

Meanwhile, he says Nova Scotia Power will need to receive permission from the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board before it starts spending money to build the Nuttby Mountain wind farm.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1118411.html

Emera buys half of U.S. power company

N.S. firm teams up with Algonquin
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Fri. Apr 24 - 5:45 AM

Nova Scotia Power’s parent company is teaming up with an Ontario income fund to form a new renewable energy utility in California.

Emera Inc. of Halifax will spend $27.6 million buying a 9.9 per cent stake in the Algonquin Power Income Fund of Oakville, Ont., the companies announced Thursday.

As a first step in their new 50-50 partnership, Emera and Algonquin will buy the California electricity distribution and related generation assets of the Sierra Pacific Power Co. from NV Energy of Nevada for about US$116 million, subject to certain working capital and other closing adjustments.

Sierra Pacific provides electricity to about 47,000 customers in the Lake Tahoe region of Nevada. Emera and Algonquin will jointly own and operate Sierra Pacific through a newly formed entity, California Pacific Electric Co. (Calpeco).

Emera’s 50 per cent equity investment in Calpeco is US$27 million. The transaction is subject to approval, expected next year, from the California Public Utilities Commission.

"This partnership positions Emera to increase our holdings of renewable energy in North America and introduces us to a new market," Emera president Chris Huskilson said in a news release Thursday.

"It also allows us to increase value to jointly owned energy infrastructure assets with Algonquin Power. We look forward to working with Algonquin to build on our portfolio in the utilities and renewable energy sectors."

Emera will buy its 9.9 per cent stake in Algonquin when the Calpeco transaction closes next year. The Nova Scotia energy giant also has rights to acquire up to five per cent more of Algonquin over the next two years.

For Algonquin, "the acquisition of the California utility assets represents an important element in the strategic expansion of Algonquin Power’s low-risk utility infrastructure portfolio, and the highly predictable, long-term regulated returns from these assets will contribute to the stability of our earnings for years to come," Ian Robertson, executive director of the Algonquin Power Income Fund, said in a release.

Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil criticized Emera, which owns Nova Scotia Power and Bangor Hydro in Maine, for investing outside the province and the Maritimes.

"Earlier this year, Nova Scotia Power admitted it needs to invest $100 million over the next five years in order to improve reliability to its customers here," Mr. McNeil said. "Nova Scotians are being asked to wait while Emera invests all over North America and the Caribbean."

Last year, Nova Scotia Power contributed $105.6 million to Emera’s bottom line.

"Obviously, Nova Scotia Power customers are not getting a fair shake," Mr. McNeil said. "Let’s see some investment here in our province."

Emera’s stock traded up 30 cents a share on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, closing at $20.11.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1118339.html

Wind farmer wants penalty removed

By ROGER TAYLOR Business Columnist

A DEVELOPER building a 51-megawatt, 34-turbine wind farm on Dalhousie Mountain says he isn’t worried about competing with Nova Scotia Power Inc.

Reuben Burge, president of RMSenergy Ltd. in Westville, has a long-term agreement with Nova Scotia Power to build the wind farm by the end of 2009. At the time the deal was signed, government rules prevented NSP from building its own wind farms, which was an effort to create a competitive market for independent power producers.

More recently, however, the provincial government relaxed those rules. Subsequent to that, the provincial utility acquired the development rights to a proposed 45-megawatt project to be built on Nuttby Mountain from financially troubled EarthFirst Canada Inc. of Calgary.

That deal, which includes land leases, transmission interconnection rights and provincial environmental approval, raised concerns among politicians who thought Nova Scotia Power might eventually force out the smaller producers.

"I still believe this doesn’t change the competitive playing field," Mr. Burge told me in a phone conversation on Thursday.

"I don’t believe it’s too bad. In some ways it’s good because it means a lot more wind is going to get on the grid this year."

He said he doubts the provincial regulator would allow NSP to charge a rate for wind power generated from its project that is different from the rate for independent producers.

"I don’t feel threatened. I think they’ll maintain a good process. I’m having very good luck with Nova Scotia Power. . . . I feel the way it’s been going on so far has served us well," says Mr. Burge.

While some people have talked about government providing loans to independent power producers to help the little guys to compete, Mr. Burge says he’s not so sure he would want that.

The biggest issue facing independent power producers is the cost of debt, he admits, but generally the terms of government loans are usually too short-term to meet the long-term needs of wind power.

There is one thing, however, which he says government could do to help the little guy.

"Right now, the government will apply a penalty if we don’t get built by the end of 2009. Instead of offering a penalty to put us under pressure, they should be offering an incentive.

"If we complete (the wind farm) in 2009 or in the subsequent year . . . then we would be offered an incentive, like a certain amount per kilowatt hour for a 10-year period."

Mr. Burge, who has one equity partner and debt financing, says providing an incentive would give the independent producer something to show the banker, which could alleviate concerns about extending a loan. An incentive is just one more positive thing the bank would look at when evaluating the project, he says.

RMSenergy incurred additional expenses because of the threat of penalty, he says. Turbines were purchased when the price was high. Mr. Burge estimates he paid about five per cent more for his turbines.

"We didn’t have time to negotiate, either. We didn’t have time to find deals. . . . We probably shelled out another five per cent."

The turbines will arrive this summer. Meanwhile, the company is working on foundations and road construction.

"We’ll be averaging 100 full-time employees from now until Sept. 30."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1118302.html

Reports of wind farm health problems growing

Updated Wed. Apr. 22 2009 4:02 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

More people are coming forward saying they're experiencing sleep problems, headaches, and heart palpitations caused by living near windmills.

Ontario physician Dr. Robert McMurtry told a news conference in Toronto Wednesday that while wind energy may offer a cleaner, more efficient way to generate electricity, those who live near the giant turbines are suffering through serious health problems.

McMurtry, a retired orthopedic surgeon who used to be an assistant deputy minister of the Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada, decided to look into the health effects of windmills with the help of Carmen Krogh, a retired Alberta pharmacist.

Krogh and a group of volunteers distributed questionnaires in areas near wind farms, asking residents to describe whether they have experienced any effects from the turbines.

Of 76 people who responded to their informal survey, 53 reported at least one health complaint. They complained of:

• headaches
• heart palpitations
• hearing problems
• stress, anxiety and depression

He reports that one resident had to be admitted to hospital with an acute hypertensive episode. Another experienced atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm).

"There is no question that they are genuinely suffering, and more people are at risk if the rules are not changes substantially," McMurtry told the committee.

Krogh's survey revealed that most of those who complained of health problems lived within a kilometre of a wind farm, while those further away were less likely to experience health problems.

The turbines don't appear to affect everyone equally and it is not clear what causes the health problems in some people. Some suspect that the constant, low frequency noise and vibration from the rotating blades may be what cause the problems.

But research into the problem is lacking. That's why McMurtry is calling on governments to conduct a lot more studies into the turbines' effects on the health of nearby residents.

"There is no epidemiological study that has been conducted that establishes either the safety or harmfulness of industrial wind turbines. In short, there is an absence of evidence," McMurtry told an Ontario government committee Wednesday.

The committee is debating The Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009, a bill that would enact standards for renewable energy projects, such as standardized setback requirements for wind farms.

McMurtry told the committee that until there are rigorous epidemiological studies of the health effects of wind turbines, Ontario should not go ahead with any further construction of wind turbines.

Wind power advocates contend that studies have been conducted in North America and other parts of the world and they show that residents who live near wind farms have few complaints about them.

Sean Whittaker, vice president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said these studies "have really come to the same conclusion and that is there is no evidence that wind turbines have an impact on human health."

Whittaker told CTV News that research he has reviewed shows that the percentage of people who approve of wind power increases the closer you get to a wind farm.

Barbara Ashbee is not one of those people.

Ashbee lives in the shadow of 11 of the 45 giant wind turbines at the Melanchthon wind farm near Shelburne, Ont., about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto. At first, she liked the idea of living near a green-energy facility.

"I thought it was a great idea for the environment," she told CTV News.

But the day the turbines started running, she and her husband, Denis Lormand, stopped sleeping.

"They are so loud we didn't get any sleep. You can hear them in the bedroom. There is also a hum and vibration that permeates the house," she says

All that deprivation started to lead to cognitive abilities, she contends.

"My memory now is horrible," she says. "It's terrible to go night after night without sleep. We go to bed 7 p.m. because we don't know what the night will bring."

Her husband also suffers from tinnitus, which causes a constant whining sound in his ears.

With more construction at the Melanchthon wind power centre expected to bring the number of turbines at the facility to 133, the couple says they would love to sell their house but can't.

"Between the noise and the vibration, we couldn't put a For Sale sign here. There's no way," says Ashbee.

Ashbee says she has no problem with the concept of wind farms, but she says they simply shouldn't be built near residences.

"I thought they were wonderful, but they're not. There are big problems and they have to get sorted out," she says.

With a report by CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090422/wind_farms_090422/20090422?hub=TopStories

Nova Scotia Power taking over development of Nuttby wind project

HARRY SULLIVAN
The Truro Daily News

HALIFAX – New life is being breathed into the Nuttby Mountain wind project through news that Nova Scotia Power (NSP) has taken over the venture’s development rights.

“Becoming directly involved as the developer of the Nuttby wind project should allow it to advance, despite the challenges that exist in today’s financial markets,” said Robin McAdam, NSP’s executive vice-president of sustainability. “We know how to build a wind project and we believe we have access to financing to do this sort of thing.”

The Nuttby Mountain development rights are currently owned by Calgary-based EarthFirst Canada Inc., and include land leases and transmission interconnection rights as well as provincial environmental approval. EarthFirst commenced a process to sell the project last August and is currently operating under creditor protection.

The proposed wind farm would have a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts and is designed to produce enough energy to power approximately 15,000 homes. NSP said the project has the potential to reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 100,000 tonnes annually.

Initial development came through Atlantic Wind Power Corp (AWPC), which sold it to EarthFirst. AWPC had planned to manage construction of the project to completion but McAdam said the Atlantic team, led by Charles Demond, will remain involved with the project through a service contract with NSP.

“He’ll provide advisory support to all aspects of the project,” McAdam said. And while NSP is “very much in an as-soon-as-possible mode” to get the project started, McAdam said, the fact that EarthFirst had yet to have a turbine model selected means they now have to get out into that market to see what is available. “That will be a big driver in the schedule.”

As well, there still is geo-technical work to be done at the site to ensure the proper foundations are constructed for the turbines.

The bottom line, though, is that NSP’s involvement removes any uncertainty that had been surrounding the project. “It’s just too early to be very specific (regarding timelines). We want to get it up as fast as we can,” McAdam said. “We’re proceeding with this project because we want to see renewables (energy) advanced in Nova Scotia ...

“Nova Scotia Power is committed to expanding its use of renewable energy from all available sources, including biomass, tidal and wind.”

http://www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=244340&sc=68

Nova Scotia Power acquires Nuttby wind project

CBC News

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 | 6:37 PM AT

Nova Scotia Power has acquired the rights to a wind farm on Nuttby Mountain, north of Truro.

NSPI ended up with the project when owner EarthFirst Canada filed for protection from bankruptcy and turned over the site instead of paying NSPI the money it owes for breaking its wind power contract.

For NSPI, it means developing wind power to supply electricity to 15,000 homes and begin reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

"We're committed to a greener fuel profile," said Rob McAdam, NSPI's vice-president for sustainability. "At the same time we face carbon reduction requirements, separate legislation, so this will help us with that."

The Nova Scotia government has ordered NSPI to generate five per cent of its electricity from renewable sources next year, rising to 20 per cent in four years.

Ordering turbines for Nuttby Mountain won't help NSPI meet its deadline for next year, since the future of several other wind farms is up in the air.

McAdam can't say whether NSPI will comply with the legislation.

"I think it clearly will be challenging. We're doing everything we can to advance renewable projects to help meet that target," he said.

If NSPI cannot meet its five-per-cent target next year, under the Environment Act the corporation could be hit with financial penalties of hundreds of thousands of dollars each day.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/04/21/ns-nsp-nuttby.html