Tag Archives: wind power project Ottawa

Prowind: we want you to be “comfortable”

19 Friday Jul 2013

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

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In the article on the proposed wind power project for North Gower-Richmond appearing in today’s Ottawa Citizen (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Wind+power+projects+harmful+cancelled+plants+critic+contends/8678755/story.html), wind power developer Prowind (based in Germany) representative Rochelle Rumney says the project is “on hold” until the new application process is announced by the Government of Ontario.

Taking a cue from the province, which is making lots of noise about “community engagement” while still NOT returning local land-use planning powers removed by the Green Energy Act, Rumney told the Citizen writer that Prowind wants to work with the community to “try to have everybody be comfortable with the project.”

Comfortable.

Really.

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that Prowind has concealed the true locations of the turbines and to this date, does not depict the turbines just north-west of a housing subdivision on its website?

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that by conservative estimates (and this has been accepted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice) property values could decline by 22-50% ?

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that, again by conservative estimates, if only 10% of the residents within 3 km of the turbines were to experience sleep disturbance and other health problems, that would mean over 100 people could be affected?

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that a few people who live here can do this to the rest of their community?

This community has options, none of them comfortable, but they will be pursued.

Just a reminder of who we’re dealing with, here again is the photo of Prowind’s stunning Head Office in Hamilton, Ontario.

Prowind HQ-Hamilton

Donations welcome to cover costs including legal fees: PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0

Ottawa Wind Concerns Inc. is a corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario.

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Impact of Ottawa wind power project would be ‘staggering’

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy

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Community group Ottawa Wind Concerns has filed a formal comment with the Ontario Power Authority and the Independent Electricity System Operator as part of the “dialogue” process on siting large power projects in Ontario.

Placing a huge wind power project as proposed in the North Gower and Richmond communities, part of the City of Ottawa, would have “staggering” effects, the group says, in terms of negative health impacts and on property values.

On a day when wind power is contributing considerably less than one percent to Ontario’s power needs during the current heat wave, OWC’s chair Jane Wilson said that a thorough cost-benefit analysis, including comparison to other forms of power generation and the impact on communities, should be done for this and every wind power project.

“Ontario needs a new process,” she says. “That starts with a return of local land use planning and the recognition that wind power projects should be treated as any other type of infrastructure.”

MP Pierre Poilievre, MPP Lisa MacLeod and Ottawa City Councillor have all expressed opposition to the wind power project.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Read the full comment document here: OPA-commentJuly11

Donations welcome, please mail to PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Ottawa NOT a ‘willing host’ event Saturday April 6th

05 Friday Apr 2013

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

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NORTH GOWER-RICHMOND-BRINSTON NOT A “WILLING HOST” to giant wind power generation project.

News conference and peaceable demonstration Saturday April 6th, Ottawa City Hall, 2 PM, corner Elgin and Lisgar Streets, Human Rights monument

Speakers: Lisa MacLeod MPP, energy economist Bob Lyman, Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson

Organized by: Ottawa Wind Concerns, Wind Concerns Ontario, South Branch Wind Opposition Group

Wind power: $200 million a year to Ontario power customers

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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In today’s Toronto Star (often a Liberal party mouthpiece) a story on how much Ontario’s decision to promote wind power at the expense of everything else, including hydro, is costing the people of Ontario $200 million per year. And yet, the province plans to triple the capacity… and thus triple the expense.

We can believe it: MP Pierre Poilievre commissioned the Library of Parliament to study the wind power project proposed for North Gower-Richmond and the results were that the project will cost Ontario ratepayers $4.8 million per year in subsidies. That amount doesn’t cover the cost of transmission lines (about a million per km) to service the project.

The story is here http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/02/26/surplus_wind_power_could_cost_ontario_ratepayers_up_to_200_million_ieso.html

Meanwhile, power rates climb. Ontario MPP Sylvia Jones rose in the Legislature today to tell of customers whose power bills are now higher than their mortgage bills, and of small business that are just giving up and closing down.

This is not a recipe for success in Ontario.

The Ontario government MUST halt all approvals of wind power projects now, and cancel the Feed In Tariff program. No choice about it.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations welcome at PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

 

 

A word about our photo

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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The rather elegant photo of Ottawa in our header needs an explanation: if there were a wind turbine in it, of the scale being proposed for south Ottawa, it is so tall you wouldn’t be able to see the nacelle or hub of it …. that is exactly how big these machines are. And of course, what they look like isn’t the issue, it’s the noise and the vibration they produce.

But, we need people to understand the scale of these power generating machines. Now, imagine TEN of these machines in the background of our photo…or 20 or 40 or 60 or—as in the Enbridge project near Kincardine, 120, or as in what Samsung is doing in Haldimand-Norfolk and Chatham-Kent, FIVE HUNDRED turbines…and you get an idea of what we mean when we say wind power projects are industrializing the small communities of Ontario.

It is expropriation with compensation. It is sacrificing the quality of life in our communities, reducing property values and harming health…all for an ideology for which there is no evidence of benefits.

We repeat a comment from then sales rep for Prowind, headquartered in Germany, who is behind the project in Richmond-North Gower and South Dundas. When asked by Mark Sutcliffe whether the wind turbines make noise (Talk Ottawa, April 2010) he said, “Of course they do! They’re power plants!”

What we need is a safe reliable power source that does not sacrifice anyone’s health or quality of life.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and please consider donating toward our legal and other costs. We accept PayPal or cheques at PO Box 3 North Gower On  K0A 2T0 Ottawa Wind Concerns is a corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

What kind of person…?

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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We’re not sure who “Andy Braid” of Kars is, nor do we get why Mr Braid seems to have letters published with regularity in The Manotick Messenger (3 weeks in a row, by our count) but at least our response to his recent letter about the wind power project was published, yesterday.

Here is the letter.

Mr Braid claims that MP Pierre Poilievre hasn’t got his facts straight in asking for a moratorium on the proposed wind power project for our community. It is Mr. Braid who is in error.

Ontario uses coal power for less than three percent of its electricity needs, and could shut them off altogether for seven months of the year when they are not needed for spikes in demand due to hot weather. The truth is, Ontario’s pollution comes from cars and trucks, and from industry south of the border.

Most worrying, however, is his objection to Health Canada spending time studying the noise problem. What kind of person does not want more information on a public health issue, and is in fact willing to sacrifice the health of his neighbours in North Gower, Richmond and Manotick?

Wind power has not been proven to reduce greenhouse gases anywhere in the world.

Jane Wilson

Ottawa Wind Concerns

Mr Braid’s comments, it might also be noted, come right out of the wind power developers’ lobby group playbook. They don’t want Health Canada to study the turbine noise and infrasound. If the study is done right–and many are commenting on the current proposed study design (it has flaws) to improve it–it will show that there are questions about setbacks and nighttime noise.

Ontario could end up with 2-km setbacks (minimum in the view of the World Health organization and the Society for Wind Vigilance) and perhaps also having the turbines turned off at night, as they are now doing in some areas of France. That means less profit in the form of taxpayer subsidy for the big companies.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and donate to PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0

MP Poilievre commissions Library of Parliament research: what wind power costs YOU

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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A news release from Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre today, see below. This pertains to the 20-MW proposed project in North Gower. Savings of the “cost premium” amounts to $3-4.8 million per year–this is in line with the $500,000 per turbine, estimated as a subsidy for turbines by Wind Concerns Ontario.

Now remember, Mr McGuinty wants to have 10,700 MW of wind power running in Ontario. You do the math.

Pierre Poilievre, M.P., Nepean-Carleton

News Release

Contact: Austin Jean

T: 613.990.4301 | F: 613.990.4333 | E: poilip1@parl.gc.ca

August 17, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marlborough Moratorium Makes Cents

North Gower, ON — Nepean-Carleton MP, Pierre Poilievre, released information from the Library of Parliament confirming that a moratorium on the Marlborough Wind Turbine Project could result in an annual savings of up to $4.8 million on Ontarians’ energy bills. Due to its unreliability and set-up costs, wind-generated power in Ontario is far more expensive than alternatives like conservation efforts or refurbished nuclear plants. Poilievre has been calling for a moratorium, while Health Canada (a federal department) conducts a study into the safety of wind turbine noise.

The Marlborough project proposed for the outskirts of North Gower is expected to produce approximately 60 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, at a cost of 13.5 cents/kWh, a price the Ontario government has guaranteed for 20 years.  In comparison, the Ontario Power Authority purchases electricity generated from coal, natural gas and nuclear plants at a cost of 6 to 9 cents/kWh.  A moratorium on this industrial wind turbine project would allow the Power Authority to purchase the same electricity at roughly half the price from these cheaper energy sources while Health Canada conducts its study.

“The planned industrial turbines near North Gower should be put on hold until the results of Health Canada’s federal study are published,” said Poilievre. “Not only would this ensure the safety of these residents, but it would save money for the power system and its consumers.”

In 2011, wind-generated energy accounted for an average of 2.7% of the total power grid in Ontario, costing taxpayers $519.5 million. The same amount of energy from natural gas generation plants would have cost $96.2 million less.

For further information, please contact:

Austin Jean
Office Manager

Pierre Poilievre, M.P. Nepean-Carleton
T: 613.990.4301 | F: 613.990.4333 | E: poilip1@parl.gc.ca

See the note from the Library of Parliament, HERE

Library of Parliament research[1]

Please see the petition under Important Documents. If you are copying it, it MUST have both pages on a single piece of paper to be legal.

The simple truth about wind power: it doesn’t achieve the goal

06 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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Guest Helen McDade of Scotland’s John Muir Trust hit the nail on the head on the August 5th Wind Wise Radio show (always a great show, check in Sundays at 7 p.m. to the Internet show at http://www.windwiseradio.org). She said, wind power generation is being sold around the world as the way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is, she said, it doesn’t work: there is no evidence to show that wind power makes any appreciable difference in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

What is does make is plenty of money for the people developing wind energy as a resource, and what it also does is cost taxpayers and ratepayers plenty of money in subsidies. Electricity rates in Britain are skyrocketing, McDade and subsequent guests said.

Wind power developers claim that the experience in the U.K. and Europe is unblemished and positive. You could think that if you never read anything, or if you never heard of EPAW, the European Platform Against Wind, which has more than 400 member community groups protesting wind power developments.

Wind power: expensive, unreliable, and it doesn’t achieve the goal set for it.

Share that message with your friends, coworkers, neighbours and family!

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

Ottawa Wind Concerns

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

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We’ll be making an announcement very soon.

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks with the Health Canada announcement of its study into the relationship between the environmental noise and infrasound produced by large-scale or industrial wind turbines and health problems (the study is not to find WHETHER there are health problems–we already know there are–but to inform decision-making and policy), and now Ontario MPs are calling for a moratorium on wind power project approvals until the study is done.

Makes sense.

Ethical.

The right thing to do.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and follow us on Twitter at northgowerwind