Wind project not dead yet

Controversial Gulf Shore project may return
DARRELL COLE
The Amherst Daily News
21 August 2008

AMHERST - Despite failing to secure a contract with Nova Scotia Power, a controversial wind farm project proposed for the Pugwash area is not dead.

"We have not abandoned our plans to pursue that project," Atlantic Wind Power Corporation president Charles Demond said Monday. "We're still interested in building a wind farm there. It may be scaled back a bit from what we were proposing, but it will still be a very good wind farm."

Atlantic Wind Farms originally planned to develop a wind farm with between 20 and 27 100-metre tall turbines in the Gulf Shore area. The proposal was opposed by a group of neighbours and Gulf Shore area residents including Anne Murray, who felt the turbines would be too close to homes and cottages and would spoil the natural scenery of the shoreline along the Northumberland Strait.

Demond said the project still has support in the community and the company remains convinced that the Gulf Shore area is ideal for a wind farm. However, it's unlikely the project will be as big as the one submitted to Nova Scotia Power for consideration last year.

"We're no different than a lot of other developers that are moving ahead with things but don't have a contract at this point," he said. "We're continuing on with things like assessment work in the background. When the time is appropriate we'll announce specifically what we're going to do."

When Nova Scotia Power awarded wind power contracts late last year and earlier this year, it opted for another project near Amherst that will include 20 turbines. Construction is expected to begin next April and be operational as soon as five months later.