About two-dozen unemployed millwrights set up a picket line Thursday to slow trucks delivering massive wind turbine parts from Windsor to the $200-million Kruger Energy project. Rick Anderson of Millwright Local 1244 said the erection of the 80-metre-high steel towers and 45-metre-long blades should be done by his union's skilled trades workers. He warned that if bolts loosen because of improper tightening techniques the towers could topple. ...About seven truckloads of turbine parts are sent daily from Morterm Windsor docks. Ships from Denmark and China bring in the turbine sections.

The road to economic prosperity is paved green. That's the pitch the town's business and political leaders will hear at an economic summit next week. ...It's not clear if the town is ready for a green revolution. Businessman Lori Collazino ran into considerable opposition with his proposal to turn toxic General Chemical lands into a wind farm. ...While some towns in the county have set up their own rules on wind farms, all are waiting for countywide policies that go to county council for approval on Wednesday. More than a dozen wind farm projects have been proposed, but there is also considerable resident opposition.

The location of the wind farm in this area has been a point of contention for many crab fishermen who have voiced their concerns over the past year, such as Area A crab fisherman Itch Verne. "The proposed first phase of the Naikun Wind Farm project will cover approximately 30 per cent of traditional crab fishing grounds in Hecate Straight," said Mr. Verne in a recent letter to Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn. "Fishers will not be able to set gear near the area during or after construction. Phase 1 will severely reduce the fishing grounds, forcing fishers to be more concentrated in the remaining available area, resulting in less production per vessel, more trap loss and navigational hazards."

Quebec's stringent "local content" requirements for wind-farm developers do little for most Quebec wind-energy businesses, but will increase rates for all Hydro-Québec customers, several experts in the field say. Under the terms of the call for tender for 2,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity, developers must guarantee the expenditure of at least 30 per cent of wind-turbine costs in the economically troubled Gaspé region and at least 60 per cent of total wind farm costs in Quebec. "This will make wind power more costly," Université Laval economist Jean-Thomas Bernard said.

A $230-million wind farm near O'Leary could be in jeopardy. The P.E.I. government says Ventus Energy, which is developing the 55 wind turbines, is seeking concessions to a four-year deal it signed last year - concessions the province says are unacceptable. The two sides are still talking, but Environment Minister George Webster said he has no intention of agreeing to a deal which he says gives the Island's resources away. He described those resources as P.E.I.'s "oil and gas'' and added the concessions being asked for by Ventus would cost the Island "significantly.'' He would not disclose exact figures.

Projects are picking up the most speed in Ontario, where the provincial government has embraced wind energy as a symbol of its green friendliness, and municipalities are signing on with a fervour because the province's above-market prices mean they can reap cash in land sales and tax revenues. But as Canada experiences a rapid rise in these developments, there is a growing opposition to wind power as a clean energy alternative, with complaints that it is high-cost, energy-inefficient, causes noise pollution and even wreaks havoc on birds' migratory patterns. After raising many of these concerns with the Ontario Municipal Board, residents of Wolfe Island, Ont., celebrated a victory this week when plans for an 86-turbine megaproject by Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. was modified to place the turbines farther away from residential areas and wetlands.

The Bruce County Federation of Agriculture is calling for measures to protect the county's tourism industry, farming operations and municipalities from the rapidly developing wind energy industry. "Recent studies in other countries have shown that large wind generating areas and tourism are not compatible. It would be a shame to lose the gains we have made in tourism by not having planning in place to make sure our tourism industry stays vibrant," federation president Robert Emerson told Bruce County council's agriculture, tourism and planning committee on Thursday.

A portion of the wind energy generated from newly installed wind turbines located in PEI was wheeled through PEI and New Brunswick and sold to the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) via the international interconnection node in Keswick, N.B. The renewable energy certificates (RECs) that were generated from this transmission were sold separately to independent buyers located in the NEPOOL.

"Our analysis finds that there are no insurmountable legal, economic or technical barriers to withdrawing from ISO-NE," he said. "Viable alternatives to ISO-NE now exist, such as the formation of a Maine independent transmission company or the creation of a Maine-Canadian Maritimes market." Adams said the MPUC continues to study both options and will make its recommendations in a final report to the Legislature in January 2008. The preliminary report indicates that the final report will focus on "opportunities" with Canada's Maritime provinces.

THERE'S TROUBLE brewing in Nova Scotia's quest for wind energy. We all know the importance of developing our valuable abundance of clean, green renewable energy in order to offset the greenhouse gases produced by Nova Scotia Power's coal-fired generation plants. Our government has legislated aggressive renewable energy targets for the near future. So wind energy is good, right? Well not always, according to many of the folks from Pugwash.

PUGWASH - A proposed wind farm near here would hurt the area's well-established cottage industry, a real estate agent said Thursday. "This is cottage country and on its own it is a major industry that has resulted in property values doubling several times over in recent years, but we will see property values drop 30 to 50 per cent as soon as this project is approved," said Peter Finley. "I've already seen buyers back away from deals and I know of people who have property in the area of the wind farm who have put their (development) plans on hold. They are scared that they will not be able to enjoy their property with a wind farm in their backyard."

The National Hotels and Restaurants Association (ASONAHORES) praised the Government's decision to solve the conflict regarding the construction of a wind energy park in Punta Cana (east), looking for a suitable place for that project and which doesn't affect tourism development. ASONAHORES president Luis Lopez said yesterday that he met with Tourism minister Felix Jiménez, and the executive vice-president of the Dominican energy czar Radhamés Segura, and it was agreed, as Tourism had proposed and his entity demanded, to relocate the project where it doesn't affect the zone's tourism expansion. The place originally selected by the Punta Cana-Macao energy group (CEPEM), is in an area zoned for tourism resorts, created by decree in 1986, and for which ASONAHORES had demanded adherence.

The Union of Owners of the lands and tourism projects at Punta Cana's Polygon 5 reiterated that the Punta Cana-Macao Energy Consortium (CEPM) seeks to install a wind energy park in the coastal strip at Cabo Engaño, Altagracia (Higuey) province (east), in private lands and without the required permits. But the CEPM affirms that it has the project's necessary permits. The president of the owners' organization Braulio Garrido warned that they are wiling to go to court and file charges for abuse authority against any official who violates the tourism legislation, the Law of Coasts and Seas, and decree 595-06 authorizing the construction of the wind mills, which he affirms would be the highest constructions built in that zone of the country. They stated that decree 595-06 issued by president Leonel Fernandez does not authorize CEPM to install a wind energy park in the coastal strip. "The first paragraph establishes that it authorizes that partnership to build project on their land of their property and we challenge the promoters of the wind energy park to present their deeds and permits authorizing them to occupy that place," he said. Garrido feels that it would be detrimental for the country if it decides to sell part of its lands to install a wind park in a tourism zone, affirming that the Union of Owners has 40 million square meters of land along the Cabo Engaño shoreline. He insists that the project affects tourism and pollutes the environment.

Coun. Fin Armsworthy is hopeful renewable energy will signal the winds of change for this seaside community. For years, he has expressed concern that companies have been discouraged from setting up here because of high commercial rates, which are currently $4 per $100 of assessed value. However, Canso is one of six municipalities across the province that owns its own electric utility, and the town has agreed to be a hosting community for turbines to be built by Barrington Wind Energy Ltd. On Sunday, Mr. Armsworthy said new rules that allow municipal utilities to buy directly from renewable energy producers, along with the fiscal benefits of having Barrington in the community, could be a turning point for Canso.

Some local realtors are expecting significant decreases in land values to homes in the area surrounding local wind turbine projects, but the proponents have said they have no indication that will be the case. Across the Municipality of Kincardine, the 120-turbine Enbridge Wind Power Project has been a highly-debated topic, while Suncor Energy’s 38-turbine project has been widely supported in the Ripley area of Huron-Kinloss. Mitch Twolan, Mayor of Huron-Kinloss and broker of Lake Range Realty, said he’s already experienced the pros and cons to real estate which have come along with the turbine proposals. But Twolan believes it will take the completion of the projects to properly determine what widespread impact it will have after that time. “It’s going to be two to five years before we see the real impact,” Twolan said. “At this point, it’s almost too early to know. A lot of people are afraid of the unknown.”

Wind power turbines generate much bigger profits for Ontario's farmers than for Quebec's — typically two or three times bigger, an investigative report by CBC's French-language service has found.

In the provincial legislature Friday, Liberal House Leader Richard Brown said the Island’s main power utility is being hit with major expense hikes, due in part to the rising cost of energy generally, but also to the added expenses that will come with the promotion of wind energy and other power sources.

Editor's Note: This article is available via the link below.