The energy minister should withdraw his approval of a Halifax County wind farm because the project doesn't have enough local support, says a Terence Bay group. The Friends of River Road was formed last summer in opposition to a six-megawatt wind farm Chebucto Terence Bay Wind Field Inc. proposed in partnership with Renewable Energy Services Ltd.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek believes council is satisfied with the Environmental Screening Report (ESR) for the Kingsbridge II Wind Power Project. About 15 township residents and 15 representatives from EPCOR, including Paul McMillan, senior vice president of Ontario, and Michael Smith, manager of policy and programs environment, as well as Stantec Consulting Ltd., filled the council chambers on Dec. 19 to hear the review of the ESR.

The cancellation of the three projects "gives hope to other communities in rural Ontario, almost all of whom are not willing hosts for industrial wind turbines," she said. "I do believe that the discontinuation of the these three projects is a major victory in the ongoing war against industrial wind turbines in rural Ontario."

The insurance industry, which does not have uniform policies on liability insurance for farms with industrial turbines, is closely watching the situation. "As more and more turbines go up and more and more liability suits are presented, you will be able to tell the appetite of the insurance companies, whether they will cover farms (with turbines)."

The opening phase of Brookfield Power Corp.'s ambitious multi-million-dollar commercial wind farm project, immediately northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, is plugged into the grid. Six of 66 units in the eventual 126-unit development went operational Monday, said Jim Deluzio, general manager for Ontario Wind Operations with Brookfield Power.

A residents group has appealed last month's decision by the Municipality of the District of Chester to grant the wind farm a development agreement. Members of the Friends of South Canoe Lake are concerned about the setback distances of turbines and their potential effects on residents' health and property values.

The company behind a $275-million wind farm wants to start work in the spring, although the plans appear to be bogged down in bureaucracy. Canadian Hydro, a Calgary-based company, already operates a 45-turbine facility in Melancthon Township. The company is seeking approvals for 88 more turbines in the second phase of the wind project in Shelburne, Ont. The project is facing a great deal of opposition and will require hundreds of approvals — from the federal government to the township.

St. Lawrence Mayor Wayde Rowsell has announced his town council has reached a 20-year tax agreement with NeWind Group Inc. The deal, expected to generate tax revenues in excess of $2 million for the community over the life of the contract, was reached Jan. 19 after a week of negotiations between the two parties. NeWind was awarded a contract by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro in November to operate a commercial wind farm near the town, which will produce 27 megawatts (MW) of power to the island. Mayor Rowsell indicated the town approached the negotiations with the philosophy a good deal would be one mutually beneficial to both the company and the community, an objective he felt was accomplished. “We’re quite pleased with what we negotiated with the company.”

Sixty-six football-field-size wind towers were set into commercial motion Sept. 21 and a further 60 three-bladed towers, standing 117 metres (383 feet), from base to furthest blade sweep, are about a month away from commercial contribution to the provincial energy grid.

A new CIBC World Markets report supports what the Power Workers' Union (PWU) has been saying to the provincial government and the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) for years: the closure of Ontario's coal plants will lead to higher electricity prices for consumers and businesses. Since making the 2003 election campaign promise to close the coal plants, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and the OPA have continued to raise concerns about the significant risks to electricity reliability and price. Now another independent review has reached the same conclusion. "Successive IESO and OPA documents and recent speeches show these risks have not gone away but are actually worse," says Don MacKinnon, President of the PWU. Key risks include: uncertainties about load growth forecasts and what realistic contributions can be expected from conservation and demand management (CDM); how volatile natural gas prices will affect electricity prices; the need for more gas pipeline infrastructure to service new gas-fuelled generators; the costs of redesigning and building new transmission and distribution infrastructure to integrate natural gas and renewable generation from wind farms; and, the need to have a back-up plan if replacement generation is not in place.

The P.E.I. government has received $1.2 million in compensation from wind turbine company Vestas to cover the cost of energy lost while the turbines in East Point weren't operating in 2008. The province spent close to $50 million to buy 10 Vestas turbines for its East Point wind farm in 2007.

Entegrity entered the wind energy market at a promising time in 2002, when wind was emerging as a popular alternative to traditional energy sources. Entegrity sold small, 50-kilowatt wind turbines across North America ...It closed its doors two years ago, leaving $10 million in unpaid bills.

If all eight of the projects were built, they would add up to about $15 billion worth of new construction-and because states have put so many requirements on utilities to meet part of their load with renewable energy, it's "pretty likely" all of the lines will be built, Kopczynski says. The eight projects don't take into account a power line PGE has discussed with Avista to serve as a link to Avista's Coyote Springs coal-fired plant near Boardman. They also don't take into account 11 requests that Avista has received to construct smaller power lines in its own service area to link developers' proposed wind-generation plants into its transmission system. "Potential resources are wind resources located in various locations on the Avista system, including but not limited to wind farms near Spokane, Othello, Lewiston, and Clarkston, Wash., as well as Grangeville, Idaho," an Avista report says. " ... up to three additional (requests) that may soon be in the queue." Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof says none of those projects is the wind farm that Avista has said it plans to develop itself, for which it's seeking a site.

A Nova Scotia wind developer doesn't want to hand over $550,000 to Nova Scotia Power for not meeting its deadline to deliver green electricity. ...The private wind company, headquartered in Lower Sackville, signed a power purchase contract with NSP in February 2008 to provide the utility with 22 megawatts of wind-generated electricity by Nov. 30, 2009.

Dufferin Wind Power Inc.'s announcement of a $5 million gift to Melancthon is misleading and premature, according to the municipality's mayor, Bill Hill. ...Hill said the money isn't a gift, but a dollar amount included in a draft agreement with the municipality. The agreement was presented to Melancthon council the day before Dufferin Wind made the announcement.

In response to a recent approval of an industrial wind development, an appeal has been submitted to a Tribunal (ERT). The appeal is based chiefly on the issue of serious harm to human health from noise and low frequency sound. The appeal raises other issues such as the government's apparently admitted inability to predict, measure, or assess noise levels.

"This is war," is the way Amherstburg resident Mick MacCorquodale describes the looming legal fight against 120-metre-high industrial wind turbines popping up near his home and across the county. Essex County council hasn't even approved its alternative energy planning policies yet, but MacCorquodale is already gathering support to appeal them to the Ontario Municipal Board. Any appeal would further delay the more than a dozen wind farm projects being proposed at locations throughout the county. ...County council is expected to pass the third draft of its official plan amendments on alternative energy projects Wednesday after a year of study.

In his court action, he is asking the court to halt the building of wind turbines until independent studies rule out concerns about their effects on people's health. The legal action could slow down millions of dollars in wind projects under the government's Green Energy plan. Members of Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of 51 community groups that have sprung up across Ontario are joining his fight.

Manitoba Hydro Board has accepted a proposal for a 300 megawatt wind farm to be erected in southern Manitoba. The proposal comes from St. Joseph Wind Farm Inc., owned by Babcock & Brown Canada. If construction goes ahead as planned the new power generation site will be the largest wind farm in Canada.