July 13, 2021

Ottawa Wind Concerns has sent a letter by email to the members of the city’s climate team, as well as Mayor Jim Watson and environment committee chair Councillor Scott Moffatt warning them of the consequences of choosing wind power for the city’s rural areas.

The plan to encourage development of wind power in Ottawa was published in the document Energy Evolution, which was accepted by City Council last fall, and revealed on June 22 in a presentation by City planning staff on the new Official Plan.

“We’re saying that everyone is concerned about the environment,” says Ottawa Wind Concerns chair Jane Wilson, “but when it comes to selecting a renewable energy technology, a thorough analysis is needed. The authors of the report and Official Plan do not seem to have any awareness of what has happened in Ontario since 2006, and especially after the Green Energy Act passed in 2009.”

The community group listed their concerns as impact on the environment in the form of noise pollution and harm to wildlife, cost to consumers via higher electricity bills, the lack of analysis on cost-effectiveness of wind as a step to counter climate change, and the fact that wind power is unreliable and intermittent, and won’t meet Ottawa’s power needs.

“The City also needs to work on protective measures such as new zoning restrictions for grid-scale wind turbines, Wilson said. “Ontario’s regulations have not changed since 2009 but in the meantime, turbines have gone from just over one megawatt to 3.4 megawatts, as we now have south of us in the Nation Rise project.

“Change is needed, now.”

Read the letter to City staff here:

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

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