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 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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

Coun. Ron Rogers is worried about a coming backlash from residents when wind turbines as tall as 35-storey buildings actually start being built across the flat expanses of Essex County. "We're not going to be able to get away from them," said Rogers after town council got an update Monday on the $100-million AIM PowerGen wind turbine project that could start construction this fall southwest of Harrow. AIM CEO Mike Crawley said the company's environmental screening report is essentially complete, although another public meeting is planned. Essex County's decision to update its official plan to deal with wind and other alternative energy projects has slowed the company's progress a bit, Crawley said. The Jones Consulting Group of Oakville is expected to release a final set of planning recommendations for the county early next month.

Acciona Energy confirmed Friday the 30-megawatt wind farm that was supposed to go into service in November near Exit 3 of the Trans-Canada Highway will not be constructed this year. "The project is suffering from the economic downtown. Liquidity for capital projects is scarce right now and this project is extremely capital intensive," Schneider said.

In May, citing a potential for reliability problems for the provincial network, the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) — which oversees the electricity market and transmission network in Alberta — surprised the industry by announcing that wind power generation in Alberta, currently at about 300 megawatts (MW) of capacity, would be capped indefinitely at 900 MW. However, there are proposals for about 3,000 MW of projects above and beyond the ones already lined up and paid up to meet the 900 MW mark.

On Monday it called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to initiate a province-wide study on the health effects of wind energy generation and transmission. Moreover, it is calling on McGuinty to impose a moratorium on all wind generation projects in the province until a health study is completed.

Opposition is growing to a proposed windmill farm about two kilometres off the Scarborough Bluffs from residents worried it would tarnish their picturesque Guildwood Village neighbourhood. Residents were informed last month that Toronto Hydro had submitted an application to the Ministry of Natural Resources to install an anemometer platform off the Guildwood shoreline to test the location's wind resources. If approved, the platform would be set up for two years to determine whether the area could sustain a windmill farm of 60 turbines in Lake Ontario.

One of the world's largest solar farms will soon rise on Sarnia's outskirts, and other sun-reliant green energy ventures are in the works for sunny Southwestern Ontario. The Ontario government has approved an energy deal with OptiSolar Farms Canada to build a 400-hectare mass of solar panels that will produce 40 megawatts of electricity -- enough to supply 6,000 homes. A key to the project was the government's deal to pay 42 cents a kilowatt-hour -- nearly four times what's paid for other green-generated electricity, such as from wind turbines -- to the solar company.

Millian urged all council members to study the reports on the wind turbines. "Nobody is going to disagree with the Ontario government saying that there is a need for renewable energy but we don't know anything about it and the government just wants us to do it," said Millian. "We can't talk to anyone in Ontario about this because it's new and no one knows anything about it and I challenge anyone in this room to argue with me about this." Council agreed to wait for the minister's response.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township council is not pleased that EPCOR is not responding to the public’s concerns. “EPCOR is not coming through with the information we have asked for,” said Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek, following council’s Jan. 16 meeting. Van Diepenbeek said the public continues to address concerns to council of noise and of EPCOR not responding to their concerns. He said township resident Ross Brindley has also expressed concerns of stray voltage in his barn which he says were not there until after the wind turbines were built.

Several planned wind turbines in the area aren't even up yet, but residents are already educating themselves as to the possible health hazards associated with them. Over 200 people attended an information meeting hosted by the Middlesex Wind Action Group on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The gym at Adelaide W.G. MacDonald was standing room only. At the heart of the issue is a proposed wind turbine farm that would see the construction of 40 turbines in Adelaide-Metcalfe Township.

After more than a year of public meetings and discussion on how to integrate more wind energy from the southwest into Alberta's grid system, a $1.83 billion solution has been proposed. ...Last week the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) announced that it would be recommending the construction of a 240-kilovolt loop system to connect up to 2,700 megawatts (approximately 900 turbines).