Petition presented to program advisory committee

Digby

September 2, 2008

The Municipality of Digby’s planning advisory committee (PAC) has reached the point where it is drafting a bylaw regulating wind farm development—but it’s not exactly full speed ahead.

At the Aug. 27 meeting, two presentations were made to the committee.

The first was by Dermott Murphy, Manager of the Nuclear Insurance Association of Canada.

Murphy, who owns property in Rossway, asked committee members to consider the fact that wind turbines have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years. At the end of that period, ideally, they are dismantled and removed from the landscape.

He stated that GE’s 1.5-megawatt turbines have towers measuring 216 feet and the structures weigh in excess of 160 tons. They are placed on a base of 100 tons of concrete and steel rebar.

Murphy said that a recent bid to de-commission a 3-megawatt wind turbine in France came in at $1.3 million.

Murphy passed along to the committee a petition signed by “almost 200 residents of Digby Neck.” It called for: (1) maximum public participation and maximum sharing of information with the public (2) for single residential or commercial turbines, a setback distance from the adjacent property line and public road equal to seven times the hub height (3) a minimum separation of 2,400 m. (1.5 mi.) between a wind turbine and any habitable building.

The latter recommendation would have a profound impact on the development of wind farms on Digby Neck—since the peninsula is less than three km. wide,

Judith Peach also addressed the committee. She said that the province of Nova Scotia is irresponsible in passing responsibility for the regulation of the wind-farm development to the municipalities, rather than putting provincial legislation in place. “People should be protected equally,” she said

Peach drew on the studies of Tony Lodge, an UK energy analyst, and presented copies of his document “Wind Chill” to PAC members.

In that report, Lodge says that wind is unreliable, expensive, and not particularly green.

Peach told the committee that in Denmark, Europe’s most wind-intensive state, not a single conventional power plant has closed.

“Because of the intermittency and variability of the wind, conventional power plants have had to be kept running at full capacity to meet the actual demand for electricity and to provide back-up,” according to Lodge’s study.

Lodge’s report concludes that it is time to call a halt to new wind farms, and to aggressively expand Britain’s nuclear, clean coal and renewable supplies of energy such as tidal energy.

Peach also quoted descriptions of the noise generated by wind towers and said it makes no sense to tackle one environmental challenge by creating another one.

By Jeanne Whitehead

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/09/02/petition-presented-to-program-advisory-committee/