Tag Archives: wind power projects

Nation says NO to huge wind farms

11 Tuesday Aug 2015

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Wind power project rejected: the people of Nation speak

Council for the municipality of Nation, just east of Ottawa, met last evening and decided to reverse a motion of support for two wind power projects, in St Bernardin and St Isidore. Nation is now Not A Willing Host to wind power projects, making it the 90th community in Ontario to reject wind power proposals. The community group Save The Nation/Sauvon La Nation held a huge public meeting last week, and revealed that council had passed the support motion with no public discussion or input.  The majority of residents are opposed to the power projects on the grounds that the potential for environmental damage is significant, and the impact on agriculture and the social fabric of the communities would be extensive. “We are not for sale,” said Julie Leroux of Save The Nation in an interview. EDF of France had claimed it has spent hundreds of thousands wooing the community, paying for hockey dinners and other events designed to sway farm owners to sign leases for the project. See the story from CTV News here: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/residents-of-nation-east-of-ottawa-fight-wind-turbine-projects-1.2510730 Related story: the town of Essex last night voted not to support a new wind power project, saying they want no more wind turbines. There are now 91 Not A Willing Host communities in Ontario.

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New bill proposes return of local land-use planning powers

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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MPP Jim Wilson, also the interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, put forward a bill to amend the Planning Act, to return the local land-use planning powers that were removed by the Green Energy Act in 2009.

The Green Energy Act actually superceded 21 pieces of legislation in Ontario, in order to ease the way for large wind and solar power generation projects, but mostly wind.

You may recall that, following a petition by residents in the North Gower-Richmond area to the City of Ottawa last year, Ottawa City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the residents’ declaration that the  community was Not A Willing Host to large-scale wind power projects, and asked the province to return local land-use planning powers.

Rideau-Goulbourn councillor Scott Moffatt responded to the news in an email to Ottawa Wind Concerns with this comment:

I am aware that this bill was introduced by MPP Wilson in 2013 and am pleased to see him re-introduce it today at Queen’s Park.  It certainly echoes the motion that was carried at Council last November.

Scott Moffatt

It is extremely disappointing that while the Ontario government, including Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, has said communities could play a larger role in the siting of power projects and that community approval would be important, the newly released procurement process guidelines indicate that communities can still not say NO.

See the video clip of MPP Wilson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKzbxexVqcA&feature=youtu.be

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations welcome to help us with expenses and to maintain our retainer for legal services: PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Citizen opposition to wind farms results in ratepayer savings

25 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Here is a comment from Ottawa economist Robert Lyman, who is reflecting on a recent post by energy blogger Scott Luft.

Luft believes that citizen opposition to giant wind power projects has resulted in substantial savings for Ontario.

I thought I might extract a few of the more salient points that would be of interest to Wind Concerns Ontario.
The article is intended as a status report on industrial wind in Ontario, measured three years after the last batch of feed-in tariff contracts were awarded.  Three years ago, the contracted capacity from wind generators increased from around 4000 MW to around 5800 MW, according to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). The OPA showed 1958 MW “in service” in 2011.
The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), in contrast, currently reports that “installed generation capacity” for wind is 1824 MW, well below the OPA’s figure for 30 months ago. The discrepancy between the two agencies is unexplained. Scott Luft’s interpretation is that actual generation from wind sites has been only about 12.5 % of the grid-connected wind sites. He also estimates, based on OPA data, that Ontario currently has about 2800 MW of generation capacity from industrial wind turbine generators. This is less than half the capacity that was contracted for three years ago.
He believes that the delays in construction of the contracted capacity is clearly the result of “rural NIMBYism”; in other words, the strong efforts of rural communities to push back against wind developers.
How much has this saved Ontario ratepayers?
The feed-in tariff contracts were to pay $135 per MWh. At 2850 MW, a delay of one year in construction pushes back about $1 billion in contract payments. However, the savings to be realized from wind opposition go further. Contracting, which was planned to go to about 8000 MW of capacity, was curtailed below 6000 MW three years ago, and the 2013 Long Term Energy Plan rolled back wind plans by an additional 1200 MW. The deferral on contracting 2000 MW of wind for three years is worth about $2.5 billion, and cancelling 1200 MW altogether could be worth another $8.5 billion over the 20 years of the contract term.

Wind power documentary airs Wednesday June 4

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Wednesday June 4 at 8 PM on Sun News, is the debut of the documentary film Down Wind.

The film features interviews with Ontario residents living near wind power projects, economics professor Ross McKitrick, human rights lawyer Julian Faulkner, energy analyst Tom Adams, Human Rights Charter appellant Shawn Drennan, activist Esther Wrightman, and Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson.

DownWindPoster

Nepean-Carleton candidates statements

30 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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The Ottawa Citizen has a Riding Profile for Nepean-Carleton today, and senior writer Don Butler asked about proposed wind power projects, and opinions on “green” energy generally. Here are the responses.
Q: What is your position on the role green energy in Ontario’s power mix, including the creation of new wind farms in Nepean-Carleton?

LISA MACLEOD

Party: Progressive Conservative
Occupation: Current MPP for Nepean-Carleton

Green energy: MacLeod opposes the proposed wind turbine development in North Gower. “While I am not opposed to green energy, it is unsustainable, unaffordable, unreliable and, in many places, like our community, unwanted,” she says. A PC government would restore locally based decision-making about wind and solar projects and impose a moratorium on new industrial wind farms pending an independent health and environmental review. MacLeod points out that on any given day, wind and solar generate only one-to-three per cent of the province’s power supply. Nuclear power — which the PC’s would expand — accounts for more than half, supported by “cheap, affordable and green” water power and natural gas, she says.

JACK UPPAL
Party: Liberal
Occupation: Real estate agent

Green energy: Uppal says the Liberal government has modernized an electricity system that was “left in disarray” by the Mike Harris Conservatives. “We have ensured that Ontarians have the power they need, when they need it.” The Liberals have closed dirty coal generating plants and replaced them with clean energy such as wind and solar, Uppal says. By contrast, the PCs want to spend $15 billion on new nuclear power generation and cancel wind contracts — which could cost the province $20 billion in cancellation fees, he warns. In his response to the Citizen, Uppal didn’t say what his position is on the creation of new wind farms in the riding.

RIC DAGENAIS
Party: NDP
Occupation: Analyst with the Canadian Union of Public Employees

Green energy: Dagenais says the NDP supports renewable energy projects, but “will not force projects where communities are opposed and will ensure that communities are consulted.” The party would also ensure that contracts for small community-based energy projects aren’t automatically awarded to large corporations. As well, Dagenais says the party is committed to a full environmental assessment of all pipeline projects, would replace old buses with new efficient ones and would provide low-interest loans to property owners for energy-efficient retrofits, including the cost of solar panels.

GORDON KUBANEK
Party: Green
Occupation: High school teacher

Green energy: The Green party is “very supportive” of green energy generation that can be shown to be cost-effective and has the support of those who live near it, Kubanek says. Large wind turbines need to be a safe distance from people, which “excludes most regions of Nepean-Carleton,” he says. Even if all conditions are met, the provincial government should compensate homeowners near wind turbines if the value of their property declines, Kubanek says. One possible approach would be to reduce hydro rates by at least 50 per cent to compensate for any loss in home value, he says. “That would enable a market to be created for those homes and thus meet the needs of both the individual and the community.”

Read the full article here.

Contact us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Wind Concerns Ontario asks Ombudsman to look at wind power approval process

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Wind Concerns Ontario has sent a letter to the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario, asking that aspects of the approval process for wind power projects be looked at. The Ombudsman’s office has now had its role expanded to be able to look at issues of municipal concern, which may allow it to address the request of many municipalities throughout Ontario facing wind power developments and who are without any say in the siting of these projects. The Green Energy and Green Economy Act passed in 2009, over-rode 21 others Acts in Ontario, and removed local land use planning powers for Ontario municipalities with regard to renewable power projects. In the wake of municipal objections ever since, the Ontario government now says it will offer municipalities more “say” but still no veto.

That’s unacceptable says Wind Concerns Ontario, which refers to important issues:

  • documentation provided to the Ministry of the Environment is being “deemed complete” and then going to public comment; community groups performing audits on this documentation are finding, however, that the documents are often not complete and sometimes absent altogether—not acceptable
  • land leases are signed between the power developers and landowners, which means municipalities and residents can have no idea where turbines are going to be located until too late; this has the effect of halting real estate sales and “sterilizing” development
  • wind power developers (e.g., Samsung in Southgate) are now offering significant sums of money in return for municipal approval and other items such a building permits, road use, etc.
  • landowners are not being provided with the full range of information on the potential negative effects of having wind turbines on their properties

See the news release and link to the letter to the Ombudsman here.

In other news, the community near Woodstock Ontario, facing an 18-MW Prowind wind power project, has also filed a letter of complaint with the Ombudsman, citing deficiencies in documentation, and changes being made to documents AFTER the public comment period has closed. See the East Oxford Community Alliance story here. Prowind is the Germany-based developer that proposed a wind power project for the North Gower-Richmond area of Ottawa, which would have placed 10 turbines on local farm properties within 3 km of more than 1,000 families. The project is now on hold, waiting for the new large-scale renewable power procurement process to begin.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

National Post: Ontario paying a high price

11 Thursday Apr 2013

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

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National Post columnist Scott Stinson weighs in on Ontario’s power situation today, saying the province is paying a very high price for “green energy.”

Labelling the government’s handling of this issue as “spectacular mishandling” and an example of poor governance (we would venture to say there’s more than a dollop of misfeasance in there, too), Stinson says government actions have had a “punitive” effect on taxpayers.

And, it’s all for nothing. The Green Energy Act was created to solve a problem that didn’t exist. Ontario already had lots of “clean” power in the form of hydro and nuclear, and we did not need to create a subsidy system that had the effect of shovelling ratepayer money into the pockets of huge corporations, many of them foreign-owned.

Read the article here and pass it along to your friends and family. It’s time the voters of this province got out of the “green” fog and checked their wallets.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/04/11/ontario-green-energy-act/

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

and be sure to check for news and postings through the day at http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

 

Throne speech from the Wynne government: “willing hosts”

19 Tuesday Feb 2013

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

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So, the Throne Speech was delivered today from the “new” government, headed by brand new Premier Kathleen Wynne.

We are not much heartened by its content.

The only part that had anything to do with wind power generation projects, which Wynne has acknowledged is a very sore point with Ontario’s rural and small urban communities, is this:

Your government intends to work with municipalities on other issues, too.
Because communities must be involved and connected to one another.
They must have a voice in their future and a say in their integrated, regional development.
So that local populations are involved from the beginning if there is going to be a gas plant or a casino or a wind plant or a quarry in their hometown.
Because our economy can benefit from these things, but only if we have willing hosts.

We’re not sure what being “involved from the beginning” of a process to establish a wind power plant might look like, but when they put having a “voice” in the context of “integrated, regional development” that might just mean the small communities that are part of larger municipalities–like Ottawa, like West Lincoln–can “voice” their concerns all they want but the people in the larger community, who will never have to live next to a 626-foot, 2.5 Megawatt power generator, will drown those voices out. How will the government determine what is a “willing host”?

And what has happened to the “voice” already? Before the Green Energy Act was passed, dozens of communities complained about the loss of local land use planning powers, and they have continued to do so. Communities like North Perth, Picton and others have actually held their own referenda on wind power projects —didn’t amount to a hill of beans with the McGuinty government. McGuinty’s so-called point system, which was crafted to make it look like there was community involvement, meant that communities could go up on the list of power plants to be approved, but they could never get off.

Small urban and rural communities need to see more than this. Right now, people are being made ill by the environmental noise and vibration, homes are being left vacant, community social fabric being ripped apart…and the promise today is a “voice.”

We want more.

Let’s start with a HALT to all approvals until Ontario has done a proper cost-benefit analysis of wind power projects (that INCLUDES the effects on property values to neighbouring properties within 2-3 km) and the economics of wind power generation; and a HALT to the Feed In tariff subsidy program; and REPEAL of the Green Energy Act. Let’s get serious about measuring the noise from existing wind power projects. Let’s help the people who are sick now, and whose homes are worth nothing. And let’s wait until the health studies are actually done before we keep putting more of these things up.