Wind Power News: Canada
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These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Quebec seeks aboriginal wind farms
Hydro-Québec will hand out 500 megawatts of wind power contracts to aboriginal developers and those in remote communities, the government said.
Those developers will be allowed to sell their electricity at a higher price than the private developers who won wind-power contracts announced last week, said Natural Resources Minister Claude Béchard.
Farms operated by aboriginal developers and in remote communities will be able to submit their proposals with a higher price cap — 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, …
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Brown's proposal makes real sense
Some have suggested that Coun. Jim Brown has pulled numbers out of a hat in requesting strict minimum setbacks for wind turbines (”Setbacks deferred,” Chatham Daily News, May 6). Possibly, but that doesn’t mean there are fewer brains under Brown’s cap than under those worn by the various power companies bidding for our skies.
Certainly there is more heart in Brown’s proposal, and his reluctance to roll over and play dead should be applauded rather than …
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Wind power being considered
Several businesses are interested in tapping into the County of Grande Prairie’s wind potential to generate electricity, the county’s economic development officer said last week in his report to county council.
It could take one to three years before a windmill appears in the county’s landscape but, if it goes ahead, it would be a first for the county, possibly even for northwestern Alberta.
Walter Paszkowski presented county council with a map showing the key potential sites …
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Third power line in works for P.E.I.
The P.E.I. government hopes to use a fund established by Ottawa to revive a project killed shortly after the federal Conservatives took office in 2006.
In the dying days of Paul Martin’s government, Stephane Dion, who was then the Liberal environment minister, visited P.E.I. to announce federal funding for a third electrical transmission line from the Island to New Brunswick.
The two current cables, which supply Islanders with power, are near capacity. Unlike those two cables, the …
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Picketers assemble at wind farm open house
AMHERSTBURG — A second open house was held by Gengrowth pertaining to a wind farm they are proposing just north of Malden Centre but those who live in the area were ready to air their views as well.
A group of area residents picketed outside the Amherstburg Community Church where the open house was held and held up signs and gave out pamphlets to any passing motorist that was interested. Gengrowth is proposing the five wind …
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Disturbing wind brewing
An article written in response to articles published in The Chatham Daily News April 15, “Gengrowth wind turbines approved,” and April 17, “Open house held, another wind farm project proposed.”
Don Quixote, in Cervantes’ classic by the same name, gallantly road off on his faithful steed, to slay the haunting, implacable, and ever-present giant — the windmill. Poor Quixote didn’t have a chance.
Concerned residents of Chatham-Kent feel the same frustration as independent companies, such as Gengrowth, …
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Wind farm forum draws 300, farms jeered
The prospect of wind energy development in Essex County received mixed reviews Wednesday during a public meeting to hear comments on the county’s proposed policy for commercial wind farms.
Visual and noise impact, whether or not wind energy is a viable solution to global warming and other issues dominated the session attended by about 300 people, as well as county councillors.
Amherstburg lawyer Anthony Leardi warned that wind turbine developments are not public utilities, and if they …
Report slams planned Hydro One line
A proposed transmission line from the Bruce nuclear power plants to the Milton switching station has been highly criticized in a report prepared for the Saugeen Ojibway Nations.
In his report, public utility consultant Whitfield Russell says the proposed project “cannot be justified as a better project than the reasonable alternatives.”
Hydro One Networks Inc. is proposing to construct approximately 180 kilometres of double-circuit 500 kilovolt (kv) transmission lines adjacent to the existing Bruce- Milton transmission corridor.
Ontario …
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Wind-farm plan stirs up opposition
The smallest of the 15 wind-farm bids accepted by Hydro-Québec on Monday could end up generating more political current than all of the other projects combined.
A French-backed energy consortium is proposing to build 37 wind towers on a mountain near Lac-au-Sable, a popular fishing, hunting and hiking spot for locals and tourists next to one of Quebec’s most popular provincial parks in the picturesque Charlevoix region east of Quebec City.
“No one here is in favour …
Blown gearboxes take wind turbines off line
Six of 10 turbines at P.E.I.’s East Point Wind Plant have been shut down to avoid further damage after problems with their gearboxes were discovered during routine inspections.
The three-megawatt, 90-metre turbines are the largest wind turbines in commercial operation in North America, said Vestas Americas, suppliers of the turbines, in a news release Tuesday.
“The technology is still new, and it is a key focus area of ours to continuously develop and improve the reliability of …
