Tag Archives: wind energy

Changes to Ottawa Official Plan to be presented today

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

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September 29, 2021

Wind turbines are an industrial use of the land, says Ottawa Wind Concerns

The City of Ottawa’s planning department will present the changes to Ottawa’s new Official Plan at 6:30 p.m. today, in a virtual presentation.

At issue for rural residents is Section 4.11 which allows for “renewable energy facilities” in “agricultural resource areas.”

In an earlier draft, the renewable energy facilities were described as “Large-scale wind” and solar, and the placement included “prime agricultural land.”

The Current draft reads:

Renewable Energy Generation

3) Renewable energy generation facilities that are subject to Provincial approvals will be permitted as a principal use within the following designations:

a) Rural Countryside;

b) Greenbelt Rural and Greenbelt Facility; and

c) Natural Environment Area sub-designation, subject to the policies of Subsection 7 .3.

4) Renewable energy generation facilities that are subject to provincial approvals and are subordinate to a principal use will be permitted within the following designations:

a) Agricultural Resource Area, only as an on-farm diversified use; and

b) Rural Industrial and Logistics.

5) The following considerations will be used to establish zoning by-law provisions for such renewable energy generation facilities:

a) Limiting nuisance impacts. such as through siting and screening requirements;

b) Limiting impacts on significant natural heritage features and agricultural resource area lands; and

c) The ability to access the electricity transmission network and arterial roadways.

You must register to attend the event; you may also submit a question or comment in advance. Go to the City of Ottawa Engage site here: The New Official Plan | Engage Ottawa

Ottawa Wind Concerns has submitted several comments related to the apparent acceptance of industrial-scale or grid-scale wind power projects as an “on-farm diversified use.” Wind turbines are an industrial use of the land and not related to agriculture as is required in Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement.

While City staff have denied that there will be wind turbines in Ottawa’s rural areas, the statements in the Official Plan are clear, as were statements made by the Manager of Planning Policy as a presentation in June. In the city’s Energy Evolution document, it is stated that a “project metric” is to have 20 megawatts of wind power installed by 2025. (See the link below for the Energy Evolution strategy.)

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

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Ottawa environment committee approves motion to phase out Ontario natural gas power plants

21 Tuesday Sep 2021

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Photo:IESO

September 21, 2021

The Environmental Protection, Water and Waste Management committee for the City of Ottawa has just approved a motion calling for Ontario to phase out its natural gas power plants by 2030.

Speakers at the meeting supported the phase out and a move to “alternate” or renewable forms of power generation. A speaker for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance erroneously said that Ontario has too much power which is why the province sells it to other jurisdictions at a loss—this is not correct. Often the surplus power comes from wind power which is generated in Ontario out of phase with demand. He also said that wind turbines in the Great Lakes could produce 80% of Ontario’s power, which is also not supported by the facts.

Speakers also referred to extreme weather events as a reason to phase out the natural gas power generation; in fact, at present, natural gas provides peaking capacity so in times of high demand due to weather extremes, gas is there to provide power whereas renewables like weather-dependent wind and solar cannot.

A spokesperson for Canadians for Nuclear Energy, Al Scott, commented that if the City of Ottawa wants to proceed with decarbonization, the choice is nuclear. Wind and solar cannot meet demand, he said, adding that wind power in Ontario had been an “unmitigated disaster.”

One councillor asked if there was any information on exactly what the impact would be on Ottawa’s power supply should the gas plants be phased out. This was not available.

Committee Chair Scott Moffatt commented that the City does not have plans to develop wind power itself and it would deal appropriately with any proposals; a staff member confirmed that the Energy Evolution document does mention the use of wind power to get to its Net Zero goal.*

Staff also commented on the detailed information received from Ottawa Wind Concerns.

The Committee voted and the motion carried.

OWC made a submission to the Committee as well as a copy of the Ontario Society for Professional Engineers comment on natural gas phase-out.

*See page 17 of the Energy Evolution document

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ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

City to work on wind turbine zoning regulations

28 Wednesday Jul 2021

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Too big, too close, too noisy: Ontario wind turbine regulations have failed rural communities. Will Ottawa be a leader in protecting health and safety?

July 28, 2021

In a letter to Ottawa Wind Concerns from Alain Miguelez, Ottawa’s Manager of Planning Policy and Resiliency, the timeline for the new Official Plan and public consultation is laid out. And, we have a better idea of when the zoning that will apply to wind power projects will be developed.

Here’s what he said:

The revised version of Ottawa’s new Official Plan will be posted on the Official Plan webpage very shortly. The new Official Plan will include policies that will:

 

·           Generally direct where large-scale renewable energy generation projects are to be located in the rural area;

·           Be consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement for renewable energy generation in prime agricultural areas; and  

·            Provide direction to establish zoning by-law provisions for renewable energy generation facilities to address impacts such as noise and shadowing.*

 Although other municipalities have more detailed policies about wind for their Official Plans, Ottawa will address this level of detail through the subsequent zoning bylaw as noted in the third bullet above.

 When the new Official Plan is released, additional detail will be provided about how to make public delegations at the statutory public meeting expected later this summer and at the Joint Planning and Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee meeting, currently scheduled September 13-15. 

 Following Council adoption of the Official Plan, work will begin on the zoning bylaw.  Public and stakeholder consultation will be undertaken on any new proposed zoning provisions, including those related to wind. The new Official is not subject to appeal but the new zoning regulations will be.**

(*With respect to Mr. Miguelez, this statement is not correct: it is possible, we believe, to appeal sections of and amendments to the Official Plan though not, as he says, the entire Plan itself. ** There are many other impacts from wind power generators and the associated infrastructure.)

We have already written to Mr. Miguelez offering to provide information that we and Wind Concerns Ontario have about setbacks and noise regulations employed in other jurisdictions, including the European Union. We also recommend that the City talk to officials in other municipalities where people are already living with wind turbines, to find out what the issues are.

Again, the Ontario regulations for noise limits and setbacks are not adequate; they were established in 2009 (with more than a little input from the wind power industry) and have not changed in 12 years, despite province-wide problems with turbines.

The approvals process needs change, too, as does the process to appeal a wind power project approval—the current one is restrictive and unjust. We sent a letter to Ontario’s new environment minister yesterday, requesting change.

Ottawa has an opportunity to be a leader in developing zoning bylaws that will truly protect health and safety, and the environment.

OTTAWA WIND CONCERNS

ottawawindconcerns@ottawawindconcerns

Follow us on Twitter @northgowerwind and email us to join our email list

Nation Rise wind turbines change rural communities

06 Tuesday Apr 2021

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April 6, 2021

Huge grid-scale wind turbines are changing the landscape in North Stormont as the Nation Rise wind power project approaches commercial operation in June.

The photo above shows a view of the village of Crysler with two of the wind turbines visible. The Nation Rise turbines are 131 metres to the hub height, or 429 feet. The height to the blade tip is more than 600 feet.

There are 29 turbines in total in the industrial power project.

Wind Concerns Ontario reports that some residents have already experienced excessive noise and vibration from the turbines; they have been advised to call the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks Cornwall Office at 1-800-860-2760. If the call is outside of business hours, residents should call the 24/7 Spills Action Centre at 1-866-MOE-TIPS.

In both cases, caller should be given an Incident Report number, and should also keep a record of their call.

You may also email nationrise@edpr.com to report problems; the company is required to pass along your complaint to the environment ministry.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

How wind turbines scarred a landscape and harmed a community

04 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Uncategorized, Wind power

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March 4, 2021 

An editorial in the Eastern Ontario edition of Farmers Forum says “Toronto” should never have imposed the 100-megawatt Nation Rise wind power facility on the communities of North Stormont. 

In his editorial titled “How wind turbines scarred a landscape and a community,” editor Patrick Meagher notes that the township conducted a survey of residents and found most didn’t want the wind turbine development, and then unanimously voted to declare North Stormont an “Unwilling Host”. 

“But things didn’t go that way,” Meagher writes.  

Weeks before the provincial election in 2018, the Liberal government “greenlighted the project. This was in spite of a longstanding agreement not to approve major projects when another government could take over. Wynne got a two-for-one deal, sticking it to the next government and the locals at Crysler, Berwick and Finch.” (The riding went Conservative.) 

The wind power project caused strong feelings, Meagher says. “The project was so acrimonious that in this small community friendships broke up, family members stopped talking to each other, and more than 10 property owners sold their houses and moved away.” 

Now the community is “stuck” with 29 huge turbines that are “large, inefficient, taxpayer-subsidized generators of intermittent power…not even a good business decision.”

“This ugly event is testimony to why governments should listen to the people they work for…Toronto should never have decided what should happen in this small farming community 400 kilometres away.” 

The editorial also quoted former mayor Dennis Fife who said the community now has to try to move on. 

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

North Stormont families await wind turbine court decision

13 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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One of eight Nation Rise turbines built, now idle: 800m from nearest house. At least three bat colonies at risk in the power project [photo: CCNS]

May 13, 2020

It has been almost a month now since (virtual) hearings concluded in the matter of the cancellation of the Renewable Energy Approval (REA) for the contentious “Nation Rise” wind power project, south of Ottawa.

The 100-megawatt power project was developed by EDPR, a power developer and utility based in Portugal, Spain and Texas. It was granted approval in the last days of the Wynne government in Ontario (arguably during the period when governments do not take major decisions) and was given a Notice To Proceed by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in early days of the new government, despite campaign promises to end large wind power contracts.

Current Ontario environment minister Jeff Yurek issued a decision last December saying that he had reviewed the situation and decided that it would be in the “public interest” to revoke the REA, due to significant risks to wildlife and the environment, even though the power project was already under construction.

The power developer argued against the cancellation, and took legal action asserting that the minister did not have the authority to act.

The outcome of this case, which is now before a panel of three judges for deliberation, affects all Ontario. Nothing less than the minister’s authority to act in the public interest is at stake. Although the minister’s authority is clearly described in the Environmental Protection Act, the power developer and the wind power lobbyist the Canadian Wind Energy Association, claimed the decision was political and that the current government hates “green energy.”

The project was to have 29 turbines encompassing the communities of Finch, Crysler and Berwick. Citizens’ group Concerned Citizens of North Stormont appealed the approval originally on the basis of the risk to human heath from noise and vibration, danger to the environment due to turbine vibrations in a highly vulnerable aquifer, and dangers to wildlife such as migratory birds and bats. The appeal was dismissed but the group then filed a direct appeal to the minister, as allowed under law, based on “public interest”—it was this appeal to which the minister responded.

Legal costs for this action to protect the community and wildlife have been substantial. The community group has had to suspend fundraising efforts due to COVID-19.

Anyone wishing to donate can go to the website here or send a cheque to CCNS c/o 14950 County Rd 9 BERWICK ON K0C 1G0

For more information on the harm caused to bat species by Canada’s wind turbines, read this 2016 paper prepared by Natural Resources scientists here: https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jwmg.21128

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Return of land-use planning for renewable energy means action needed now, Ottawa committee told

04 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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April 4, 2019

The medical report supporting Ontario’s wind turbine noise regulations is now 10 years old–the regulations need to be updated

Ottawa Wind Concerns executive members Jane Wilson and Michael Baggott spoke at the meeting of the Ottawa Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee (ARAC) today, and alerted the Committee that action is needed following new amendments to regulations on wind turbines by the Ford government.

A wind power project was proposed in 2008 for the North Gower-Richmond area, with potential to spread to Osgoode. The project did not proceed when the Germany-based proponent failed to qualify for the last round of proposals under the Wynne government. It would have exposed hundreds of people to wind power generator noise — that fact was acknowledged at the time by the power developer.

“Today, we know a lot more about wind power,” said Ottawa Wind Concerns Chair Jane Wilson. “We know that many wind turbines in Ontario were sited improperly and we know that many mistakes were made — the former Energy Minister said that in 2017. And, we know there are thousands of records of noise complaints in Ontario, that have not been resolved, and are waiting on enforcement of regulations.”

Now, the new Ontario government is making changes but they require action from Ontario municipalities. Four new amendments to regulations are in response to Ontario municipalities demanding a return of local land-use planning powers, which were stripped from municipalities by the McGuinty government and the Green Energy Act.

“The amendments have not been proclaimed yet,” Wilson said, “but we need to be ready in the event a wind power proposal is made in future.”

One of the proposals is that power developers must balance any environmental impacts against the benefit of their proposed power project. “The problem is,” Wilson told the Committee, “Ontario’s rules on wind turbine noise and setbacks for safety are inadequate and out of date. The supporting document the previous government used is now ten years old, and does not reflect practices in other countries around the world.”

She added that the Ontario regulations on noise do not meet new guidelines published last fall by the World Health Organization.

“You have to remember that wind turbines produce a range of noise emissions— it’s not like barking dogs, or traffic.”

The amended regulations also require power developers to prove their project meets all zoning regulations locally. This is a problem, Wilson said, because under the Green Energy Act, municipalities had no say, so there was no reason for them to have any such zoning or bylaws as would apply to the huge wind power projects.

Ottawa Wind Concerns referred to a comment document prepared by Wind Concerns Ontario, which recommended municipalities ask the Ford government for a transition period in which they could begin the work on bylaws, and to develop new, adequate rules for setbacks between homes and turbines, and new noise limits for wind turbines.

Ottawa has already shown leadership Wilson said, in passing a bylaw asking for “substantive” input to wind turbine projects, and now is the time to take action to protect residents from the industrial-scale wind power projects.

Councillor Scott Moffatt thanked the presenters for the information, and also Wind Concerns Ontario for its work to protect rural communities.

Several North Gower residents attended the meeting.

OttawaWindConcerns@gmail.com

Presentation here: NOTES FOR ARAC presentation-Apr4-2019

Wind Concerns Ontario regulation summary document: Summary of Regulation Changes jan 3

Wind power lobby hopes Ontario forgets all the bad stuff about wind turbines

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

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Wind power lobby cajoles Ontario to ignore all the problems and take another chance on invasive, problem-ridden wind turbines.

Lobbyist for multi-billion-dollar wind power developers want Ontario to forget the past and choose industrial wind … again. [Shutterstock image]

April 2, 2019

Canada’s lobbyist and trade association for the wind power development industry, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), has just launched its campaign to make the Ontario government reconsider its position on wind power.

On Sunday, March 31st, CanWEA published a blog post entitled “Why wind energy is Ontario’s best option for new electricity supply.”

Ontario director Brandy Gianetta then lists five points.

Not a single one of them is true.

But here’s what is true:

Wind doesn’t work.

Everyone wants the best for the environment, and we all want “clean” electricity, but here’s what we know about the giant wind experiment in Ontario over its 13-year history:

  • Industrial-scale wind turbines have a high impact on the environment for no benefit
  • Wind power never replaced any form of power generation: coal was replaced by nuclear and natural gas
  • Wind power is intermittent, and produced out-of-phase with demand in Ontario; the Coalition for Clean & Reliable Energy notes that almost 70% of wind power is wasted in Ontario … but we have to pay for it anyway.
  • Wind is not “low-cost”; claims of 3.7 cents per kWh prices from Alberta ignore government subsidies. Wind power contracts are a significant factor in Ontario’s high electricity bills, and the trend to “energy poverty.”
  • Wind power has had multiple negative impacts in Ontario, including thousands of complaints of excessive noise reported to government. These have not been resolved, and many power projects may be out of compliance with their approvals; enforcement of the regulations is needed.
  • The promised jobs bonanza never happened.

In fact, a cost-benefit/impact analysis was never done for Ontario’s wind power program, according to two Auditors General.

Ontario doesn’t need more power now says the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), but if we did, why choose an intermittent, unreliable source of power that has so many negative side effects?

Wind doesn’t work.

 

Wind Concerns Ontario

See also Wind Concerns Ontario noise reports: Second Report Noise Complaints February 2018-FINAL

How the wind power industry made a fool out of Ontario

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

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How the wind power industry made a fool out of Ontario

Noise complaints unanswered, wells contaminated, a huge job ahead to unwind the damage

Home in Huron County surrounded by turbines: no laughing matter [Photo Gary Moon]

April 1, 2019

It’s now almost a decade since Ontario passed the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, which opened the door to industrial-scale wind power developments throughout the province, and heralded ten years of environmental impact … for nothing.

In fact, the province had already approved a gigantic wind power project in Melancthon, and racked up hundreds of noise complaints before the Green Energy Act was passed — the government went ahead anyway.

Today, we have high electricity bills which are harming ordinary families and discouraging business investment; the government has records of thousands of complaints about wind turbine noise and vibration (mostly unresolved); there are 40 or more families in Chatham-Kent who trace the failure of their water wells to construction and operation of wind turbines on a fragile aquifer there; and, we are seeing the environmental impacts that were brought forward in citizen appeals of Renewable Energy Approvals now becoming reality.

Ontario citizens spent close to $10 million in after-tax dollars to protect their communities from the onslaught of large-scale wind power, according to a survey Wind Concerns Ontario did of our coalition members.

The Ontario wind power disaster should not have been a surprise.

Auditor General Jim McCarty chastised the McGuinty government for never having done a cost-benefit or impact study on the wind power program; subsequently, current Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk estimated that Ontario electricity customers overpaid for renewable energy by $9.2 billion.

Guaranteed to fail

The program to encourage large-scale wind power (the province had a choice back in 2004 onwards to go for small-scale power generation–that’s not what they chose, guided by wind lobbyists) was based on ideology and was criticized by such informed analysts as Michael Trebilcock, who said “This combination of irresponsibility and venality has produced a lethal brew of policies.”

Economics professor Ross McKitrick predicted, “If the goal [of the Green Energy Act] was to promote industry and create jobs, it is guaranteed to fail.”

And Tom Adams, who said, “Urban Ontario, including city-bound journalists, are largely unaware of the corrosive effects some wind developments are having on communities, neighbourhoods, even families. This is expropriation without compensation.”

The jobs never materialized, electricity bills went up, a new phrase “energy poverty” was coined, businesses closed or left, and families were forced to leave their homes because of unbearable noise.

Noise complaints are so prevalent in Huron County that the health unit launched a follow-up study (results will be published later this year). Preliminary data showed that 60% of the people participating in the follow-up were experiencing problems because of wind turbine noise.

Wind Concerns Ontario presented the government’s own noise complaint data as evidence at the appeal of the Nation Rise power project last summer; the approval was upheld regardless of citizen concerns about noise, and damage to a provincially designated “highly vulnerable aquifer.”

Meanwhile, reports of noise are investigated on behalf of the wind power operators by the same companies who prepared the original noise impact assessments for them; one such acoustics firm even boasts that it created the government’s noise assessment protocol.

The fox is not only in the hen house, he built it to ensure easy access.

As Ontario’s new government struggles with all this (Energy Minister Greg Rickford told the Legislature last week that this is a “very difficult” file), there is little to laugh about in Ontario today as the spring winds blow, and families face more sleepless nights.

[Reposted from Wind Concerns Ontario, http://www.windconcernsontario.ca]

Stop Nation Rise wind power project, save $400M, Ford government told

01 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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End unnecessary wind power project and save $400 million: Wind Concerns Ontario tells Premier Doug Ford

 

A new wind power project will be a huge expense to Ontario consumers, and has worrisome environmental features, too. End it, Wind Concerns Ontario says.

October 31, 2018

At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Social Policy at Queen’s Park on Monday, October 29, the president of the wind power industry’s trade association and lobbyist, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) spoke against ending the Green Energy Act in Ontario because, he said, wind power is now the cheapest option for power generation.

He claimed that contracts in Alberta now average 3.7 cents per kilowatt hour, which actually excludes support payments funded by carbon taxes in that province. We leave analysis of this almost certainly false claim to the usual analysts (Parker Gallant, Scott Luft, Steve Aplin, Marc Brouillette and others), but we have questions:

Why did Ontario contract for wind power at Nation Rise for 8.5 cents per kWh?

Why is this project going ahead at all, when there is no demonstrated need for the power?*

And,

Why will Ontario electricity customers have to pay more than $400 million for a power project we don’t need?

The Nation Rise project in North Stormont (between Cornwall and Ottawa) is an emblem of everything wrong with Ontario’s renewables policy, under the former government. The 100-megawatt power project, being developed by wind power giant EDP with head offices in Spain, is minutes away from the R H Saunders Generating Station, whose full 1,000-megawatt capacity powered by the St. Lawrence River is rarely used.

Wind power, on the other hand, unlike hydro power, is intermittent and not to be relied upon — in Ontario, wind power is produced out-of-phase with demand (at night and in the spring and fall when demand is low).

And, it’s expensive.

Lawrence Solomon, executive director of Energy Probe in Toronto wrote Monday in the Financial Post that Ontario’s renewables are a significant factor in the mess that is Ontario’s power system. Renewables, he said, “which account for just seven per cent of Ontario’s electricity output but consume 40 per cent of the above-market fees consumers are forced to provide. Cancelling those contracts would lower residential rates by a whopping 24 per cent”.

Nation Rise may cost Ontario  as much as $451 million over the 20-year contract, or $22 million a year.**

But there is more on Nation Rise, which again highlights the problem with many wind power developments — the dramatic impact on the environment for little benefit.

Serious environmental concerns have arisen during the citizen-funded appeal of the Nation Rise project, including the fact that it is to be built on land that contains many areas of unstable Leda or “quick” clay, and it is also in an earthquake zone. No seismic assessments were asked for by the environment ministry, or done. In fact, a “technical expert” for the environment ministry did not visit the project site as part of his “technical review” it was revealed during the appeal, but instead visited quarries outside the area.

He testified in fact that he didn’t even know Leda clay was present until after his inspection, until after he filed his report with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, and until after he filed his evidence statement with the Environmental Review Tribunal.

Nation Rise received a conditions-laden Renewable Energy Approval just days before the writ for the June Ontario election.

It is Wind Concerns Ontario’s position that the Renewable Energy Approval for this project should be revoked, and the project ended, to save the environment, and save the people of Ontario hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

We don’t want to pay $400+ million for the power from Nation Rise.

#CancelNationRise

*CanWEA and others neck-deep in the wind power game recite a statement purportedly from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in a Globe and M<ail article that Ontario will be in a power shortage in five years. This is false, of course, as the IESO hurried to correct.

**Thanks to Parker Gallant for these calculations.