Fear and ignorance at the municipal level is inhibiting growth of the wind power industry in Nova Scotia, a legislative committee heard Thursday.
Barry Zwicker, chief executive officer at Scotian Windfields, called for provincial intervention as some municipalities introduce restrictions that make it increasingly difficult for proponents of new wind farm projects to obtain required local approval.
"We’ve had wind farms with us for more than 20 years and repeated studies concluded they present a zero health risk," said Zwicker.
He said municipalities around the province are responding to unfounded local concerns about health risks like noise with an assortment of inconsistent land-use controls.
"Controls are approved by people who don’t understand the issues and who are scared of change."
He said if some people do not like the appearance of wind turbines they should just look the other way.
Zwicker told members of the province’s standing committee on resources that the Municipal Government Act and the Electricity Act should be tweaked to provide guidance to municipalities. He suggested this would include a provincial interest statement on energy, along the lines of the interest statement currently used to protect groundwater.
Interviewed after the committee session, Zwicker said Richmond County recently ruled that wind energy developers must proceed through a development agreement or rezoning process that will delay approval by months, while the Municipality of the County of Kings recently banned wind turbines larger than 100 kilowatts.
He added that the Municipality of the County of Annapolis recently ruled that wind turbines can only be erected in areas where there is little or no wind.
He said inclusion of an appropriate interest statement in Nova Scotia legislation would allow municipal planners and decision makers to check that proposed local controls are consistent with provincial energy objectives.
Zwicker also said the province could strengthen the wind power industry by supporting developers with loan guarantees to make it easier to raise capital.
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