Ontario stops offshore wind power development

RICHARD BLACKWELL

Globe and Mail Update

Published Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 2:54PM EST

Last updated Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 5:05PM EST

The Ontario government has called a stop to any offshore wind power projects in the province’s portion of the Great Lakes, until further scientific study is done.

In an announcement that stunned both wind power supporters and opponents, the province – which has strongly supported a shift to renewable sources of power – said Friday that it will not proceed with any offshore wind projects “while further research is conducted.”

No offshore wind projects had yet received full approvals, but several were in the planning stages and one had already received a contract to sell electricity to the province under the “feed-in-tariff” program that pays high prices for renewable power. That contract will be cancelled, applications will be suspended and no more will be accepted, the province said.

Some of the proposed projects, including one in Lake Ontario just off the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, and another near Kingston, had raised the ire of local residents who did not want their view of the lake interrupted by a string of wind turbines.

The government noted that producing power from offshore wind farms in freshwater lakes is early in the development stages, and there are no projects operating yet in North America. There is one in place in Sweden, and a pilot project has been proposed in Ohio, it said.

“We will be working with our U.S. neighbours to ensure that any offshore wind projects are protective of the environment,” Ontario Environment Minister John Wilkinson said in a statement. “Offshore wind on freshwater lakes is a recent concept that requires a cautious approach until the science of environmental impact is clear. In contrast, the science concerning land-based wind is extensive.”

Ontario currently generates about 1,500 megawatts of power from land-based wind farms.

The province halted offshore wind projects once in the past. In 2006 it put a moratorium on any offshore development while it examined environmental issues, but it was removed early in 2008.

There are already hundreds of offshore wind farms in place in ocean waters, mainly off the coasts of European countries

The wind industry was taken aback by Friday's announcement.

“It is an unfortunate decision because Ontario has been working to position itself as a leader in this sector,” said Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, which represents developers and wind hardware manufacturers. The decision obviously creates uncertainty for the industry, he said, although he expressed hope that it represents merely a “pause” in development. CANWEA will try to help the government conduct its research, he added.

Wind power opponents said Ontario’s decision shows there are real environmental concerns about turbines, although they would have liked to see a stop to land-based development as well.

“It is a victory and it validates our position,” said John Laforet, president of the lobby group Wind Concerns Ontario. Government officials in the past characterized his group’s opposition to offshore turbines as “absurd,” he said. “This demonstrates they don’t know what they are doing and they are scared [of the political fallout], which they should be. They understand they have a political problem and the science is not on their side.”

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, a group that has supported wind power and other renewables, said it was disappointed with the decision but is “heartened” by the fact that the province is still committed to eliminating coal-fired power plants.

The Society for Wind Vigilance, which wants far more study on the health impacts of land-based turbines, said it would like a moratorium on all industrial wind developments. “The Ontario government admitted on Friday that more scientific research needs to be done before proceeding with industrial wind turbines in the Great Lakes and other freshwater bodies,” said spokeswoman Beth Harrington. “What is clear from our research of industrial wind development on land is that not nearly enough research has been done to protect human health.”

Ontario’s opposition energy critic, John Yakabuski, called the government’s move “a spectacular backtrack.” He said the Liberal’s green energy plan has been “oversold from the start” and it was “never properly planned.”

The Conservative party feels there is no need for offshore wind farms, Mr. Yakabuski said. Other forms of renewable energy “must be a rates that families and small businesses can afford and [projects] must be in communities that welcome it.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ontario-stops-offshore-wind-power-development/article1904138/

Ontario scraps offshore wind power plans

Back to Ontario scraps offshore wind power plans

February 12, 2011

Tanya Talaga

The Toronto Star

The provincial government has suddenly abandoned any plans to construct offshore wind projects.

Citing environmental concerns, the Liberals made the surprising announcement Friday that they have placed a moratorium on building wind power projects in freshwater lakes.

While there are currently no offshore wind projects anywhere in Ontario, the issue has been a political problem for the Liberals as the October election inches closer and seats in rural areas are up for grabs. Anti-wind activists living along the Scarborough Bluffs also vigorously oppose any plans to construct offshore wind farms in Lake Ontario.

Activist voices have dogged Premier Dalton McGuinty when he travels to rural communities where wind turbine projects have been installed or are planned.

They say the low-frequency noise from the turbines causes health problems such as nose bleeds and headaches.

The premier has argued the push for wind is needed as Ontario phases out coal-fired plants and the push is made toward a green energy economy.

A Liberal insider confided that officials scrambled to announce the climbdown shortly after noon Friday when they realized it would be buried by the news from Egypt.

On Saturday, a senior adviser to McGuinty, said the timing of the announcement was determined earlier and had nothing to do with events overseas.

“You can take a shot at us for announcing it on a Friday, but the Egypt stuff is ... just false,” said the high-ranking official.

But Energy Minister Brad Duguid denied the move was politically motivated. He said it was done for environmental reasons.

“There isn’t a lot of science on freshwater offshore wind while there is tons of science on land wind farms,” Duguid told the Star.

Building offshore wind turbine projects in freshwater lakes is early in development and there are no projects in North America, he added.

There is one pilot project in Sweden at Lake Vanern and another has been proposed in Ohio.

“We need some time to review the science and we don’t have it today,” he said.

The Liberals will not back down on their land-based wind turbine projects, he added. “We have shown a lot of leadership on the energy file and we haven’t backed away one bit from tough decisions,” he said. “Our generation has to think of our responsibility here … to get out of coal, get cleaner air and provide a healthier future for our kids.”

Anti-wind activists called the reversal a victory.

John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, called the move “excellent” but said the Liberals don’t care about the environment.

“If they cared for it they wouldn’t be allowing on land projects either,” Laforet said, adding he’s watched wind projects go up after forests have been blasted down.

“I think what they have realized is they have unleashed hell on themselves before an election and we aren’t going away,” he said. “One side of me feels vindicated in being a volunteer in this role … but at the same time I don’t believe for a second these guys care for the environment.”

Opposition critics called the announcement a spectacular policy backtrack.

The entire green energy act was founded on political science, not actual science, said Progressive Conservative energy critic John Yakabuski.

“This is a complete admission that these guys have a failed energy policy and never went through the proper planning in the first place,” said Yakabuski (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke).

“Everything these people do is based on whether or not it will get them votes.”

Pausing wind turbine projects proves the government is making a laughingstock of itself, said NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth).

“It’s entirely possible this is a decision based entirely on saving a few seats,” Tabuns said.

“They flip-flopped on the Oakville gas plant and now there’s another big reversal from Brad Duguid,” Tabuns added of the energy minister, who cancelled plans to build the natural gas-powered electricity plant last October saying it was no longer needed. “They’re turning their backs on everything they’ve said.”

Offshore projects are merely a fraction of the government’s renewable energy plan, Duguid added.

So far, 1,530 feed-in-tariff applications for mostly wind and solar projects have been received by the government to date but less than five were for offshore wind projects, he said.

And only one offshore contract in Kingston with Windstream has been accepted out of the almost 1,300 approved contracts, Duguid said.

“That one project contract won’t be cancelled, it’ll be extended until the science is done,” Duguid said.

Jeff Garrah, CEO of the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, said he was “shocked and horrified” to find out that the offshore project in his area was suddenly on hold.

“We’ve worked with various offshore supporters for about a year,” he said, adding the overall loss is about 1,900 jobs in five years.

“This sends a distorted message to outside investors in Ontario when a company is offered a contract, Windstream, and the province reneges on it.”

Gideon Forman, the executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said the move is a bit of a setback but not a fatal blow for wind power.

“We don’t think it’ll fundamentally change anything,” he said. “We knew there was a five-kilometre setback with offshore projects but we didn’t think they’d scrap the whole thing. This seemed to come out of nowhere.”

What is important is the continued Liberal commitment to onshore wind projects and the phaseout of coal-fired plants, he added.

“The key thing for protecting human health for us is phasing out coal,” he said.

With files from Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/937358--ontario-scraps-offshore-wind-power-plans

Electrical problem expected as cause in windmill fire

Published on January 31st, 2011

The New Glasgow News

Sueann Musick

MILLSVILLE – Trenton resident Doug Stewart knew something was wrong early this morning when he pointed his binoculars towards his sister’s house in Millsville and saw nothing but black smoke.

Stewart, who lives near the Trenton Airport, said he is often bird watching and looking at the windmills on Fitzpatrick Mountain, but instead of spotting blades and towers 32 kilometres away, all he saw was smoke.

“I am always looking that way and it didn’t look too bright this morning,” he said. “It was quite black.”

Stewart called the RCMP who told him he was the second person to report the smoke. He also called his sister Donna Sutherland, who lives two kilometres away from the windmills, to see what was happening.

“I didn’t notice it at first,” she said. “There is a spruce tree in the way so I had to go outside and take a look. Once I walked outside, I saw the smoke.”

Central West River resident Kevin Hawkes said he knew there was a problem when he saw black smoke while driving home from work early yesterday morning.

“I went home and grabbed my camera but it was about 15 or 20 minutes before I got there,” he said. “By then it was pretty much out.”

Scotsburn Fire Department arrived on the scene at Tower Road in Millsville about 7:30 p.m. yesterday after someone working at the site reported smoke coming from the motor compartment of the wind turbine.

The turbines are owned by Shear Wind Inc. and were constructed on Fitzpatrick Mountain about four years ago.

Ian Tillard, chief operating officer for Shear Wind, said it took about an hour for the fire to burn itself out. In such cases, he said, the turbines are designed to stop and de-energize so there is little the fire department needs to do other than keep the area clear underneath it.

Tillard said the Scotsburn Department responded in record time and provided the support the company needed, but he acknowledged the company will have to work with local firefighters in the future about responding to such situations.

“We have done a lot of work with fire departments near the Glen Dhu site and it’s apparent we need to do that with the Scotsburn Fire Department,” he said. “Fires like this are extremely rare on these units, but there are concerns in the summer with forest fires and public safety.”

Tillard said the area around the damaged windmill has been cordoned off and the local snowmobile club has been notified since there are some trails on the site.

He suspects the fire was electrical in nature, but won’t know the exact cause until it is investigated by the company. He said the components damaged by the early morning fire will be replaced.

http://www.ngnews.ca/News/Local/2011-01-31/article-2187158/Electrical-problem-expected-as-cause-in-windmill-fire/1

Nuttby Mountain wind turbines cracked

From CBC News

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 1, 2011 | 5:03 PM AT

Nearly all of the 22 turbine foundations at Nova Scotia Power's Nuttby Mountain wind farm are cracked, CBC News has learned.

"Wherever we identify cracks, they are being addressed. I think right now we are at 19 of the 22," NSP spokesman David Rodenhiser said Tuesday.

The problem came to light late last year when it was discovered five of the towers were moving beyond manufacturers specifications.

During construction last July at the $120-million wind farm, concrete was not vibrated down to the steel base of the towers.

Movement with the remaining towers is within acceptable tolerance levels, Rodenhiser said, but NSP decided to repair them anyway.

"We've found some cracking in some of the other foundations ... we decided the most prudent measure was to address those as well," he said.

The repairs involve injecting an epoxy-like sealant into the 400-tonne concrete pads to stabilize the concrete.

The German supplier, Enercon Canada Inc., supplied the turbines and is paying for the repairs, which are covered under warranty.

"It is my understanding that there was vibration and tamping that did not get done to the extent that the concrete settled all the way to the bottom of the steel," Rodenhiser said.

It will be well into March at the earliest, before the repairs are completed.

As the foundations are repaired, towers will be brought into service generating electricity for the provincial grid.

"The towers have been generating electricity," Rodenhiser said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see this story and some interesting comments go to:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/02/01/ns-nuttby-mountain-wind-farm-cracks.html?ref=rss

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