Province OKs 17 of 20 proposed turbines
Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau has approved a wind turbine project for Digby Neck, saying he’s confident any problems can be overcome.
Scotian WindFields Inc., a Dartmouth company, and its partner, SkyPower Corp. of Toronto, will build and operate the Digby Wind Park.
"I am convinced that any adverse effects or significant environmental effects of the undertaking can be adequately mitigated through compliance with the attached terms and conditions," Mr. Belliveau said in a one-page letter to Charmaine Thompson, SkyPower’s vice-president of project management.
The letter of approval, dated Monday, was sent to SkyPower’s headquarters in Ontario.
The accompanying terms and conditions deal with items including noise monitoring and regular inspections of the turbines and the sites they occupy.
The proponents must also develop a complaint resolution plan, according to a three-page document outlining terms and conditions.
Nova Scotia Power will buy all the electricity from the facility. The provincial power utility gave the wind producers a 20-year contract last year.
The 1,100-hectare wind park will be located on leased, private land, and is designed to produce enough clean energy to power about 10,000 homes annually.
The Digby Wind Park will install new General Electric wind turbines and be running in less than a year, said Scotian WindFields president Barry Zwicker.
Each machine will produce 1.5 megawatts and be installed in the Rossway-Gullivers Cove area of Digby Neck, about 12 kilometres west of Digby.
Government is allowing 17 of the 20 proposed turbines to be built. Three units were not allowed in their proposed locations, presumably because of their proximity to houses. Relocating those turbines will require more government consultation.
"We’re looking at a plan to relocate those," Mr. Zwicker said Tuesday.
The company will soon resubmit a bid to place those three turbines elsewhere. He said the three turbines that must be repositioned were within 600 to 700 metres of homes. The next closest turbine will be about 750 metres from a dwelling, Mr. Zwicker said.
When the project was announced last year, SkyPower president Kerry Adler said the Digby Neck wind park would be worth about $80 million in construction and related costs.
Earlier this month, SkyPower announced it was filing for protection from its creditors to allow it to restructure under the Companies" Creditors Arrangement Act.
Mr. Zwicker said the Digby project is definitely going ahead and, with government approval, financing the project will now be easier to conclude.
Road development may begin soon, he said.
"We just couldn’t do anything on the site until we received this approval," said Mr. Zwicker.
Waterford resident Nora Peach said at least one of the turbines will be as close as 750 metres to a home, and some are within 1,000 metres.
"Down at the end of Gullivers Cove Road, some of those houses would be 800 or . . . 975"" metres from a turbine, she said.
"They don’t have room really . . . on such a narrow strip of land to go back any further."
Some residents had asked that the turbines be kept at least two kilometres away.
Ms. Peach said the new provincial government has joined the proponent in ignoring concerns about possible effects on property values, ecotourism and migratory birds.
"It’s quite a wall of turbines,"" she said. ""It’s probably not good for birds."
The company must monitor and report all bird deaths resulting from collisions with turbine blades or towers for a period of two years.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1139433.html
As of noon August 27th, at this Herald link there are 106 comments coming from all kinds of directions. Worth viewing.
Some of the signs to be seen around Digby:
5 comments:
The ratio of comments positive towards wind energy surprised me. People must be catching on.
The breeze blew yesterday, so I took some db readings. Ambient was about 64dbA. ( about what I expected). On the C scale, the same ambient read about 105. Higher speed winds must generate more low frequency sound , but you can't hear or feel it.
John McManus
That is so kind and thoughtful of our government to require the wind turbiners to look for dead birds for 2 whole years.
I'm sure they will bend over backwards searching for them in the woods and reporting every one.
....but what pray tell will the government do if they find a few after its all built and running?
Will they shut it down?
Will they ask GOD to tell his birds to fly around this area?
Will they make the developer build a big high fence around the site?
????????????????????hmmmmm
Wonder how many land owners planning on building their dream cottages on Digby Neck will now reconsider.
What about recourse for the people living in the area to pack up and move out of the area? What about the rights of families for the safety of their children and themselves? What are the health repercussions for such turbines? Surely such high frequency sounds will resonate and create health implications to people living nearby. Further, What about animals and bats, who have shown in studies to have their internal organs hemmorage from being near these turbines? What about other birds and concerns for their internal works? Surely bats are not the only creature limited to getting such dramatic health issues? Like emu's for example...
What about emergency vehicles like ambulances on the single road of the neck not being able to commute to larger cities for residents in the event their lives are in danger? Surely the traffic created by the construction vehicles intended to build so many wind turbines will create a danger.
How much do people really know about this new form of "green" power? How much will their utilities actually cost the average citizen after the turbines are constructed and operating? Is there a guarantee that the power will indeed be used locally, and not shipped out to the USA-- namely New England USA?
I believe that PUGWASH turbine power is going to Florida.. please correct me if I am mistaken.
Finally, it seems odd, that these ominous turbines, are to create jobs, when they are set up, and the owners walk away. It appears that our local government, and the companies involved choose these areas carefully - low income, struggling and nearly impoverished areas; uneducated and unaware citizens; and places which have little to no employment. Isn't it ironic that the power bills and taxes will increase for such a high maintence project (the life span of turbines is short) and there are no promises made or things set up to protect people and their lively-hoods.
I question it all.
Jane,
To clarify the point about Pugwash/Florida....
The developers of the proposed Pugwash project (Atlantic Wind Power Corp) built the wind energy project in Pubnico. The majority shareholders (CrestStreet) of the Pubnico project bought out the remaining shares held by AWPC and sold them to *Florida Power and Light* which turned it over to its subsidiary company *NextEra* which is the world's second largest wind energy developer.
That is the only wind energy related connection between Pugwash and Florida that I know of!
(See blog entries of 7 Feb '08 and 28 March '08)
Post a Comment