Wind Power News: Alberta
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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.
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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Wind-power projects proliferate as market restrictions ease
The number of proposed Alberta wind projects has dramatically increased since the province removed restrictions on the sale of wind power last fall.
The Alberta Electric System Operator now has applications from companies hoping to generate 10,500 megawatts of wind power, said Neil Millar, vice-president of transmission.
To put that into perspective, Alberta’s record electricity demand, set one January evening earlier this year, was 9,710 megawatts.
The electric system operator is forecasting a need for an additional 5,000 …
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Wind power for Buffalo Lake scanned
A large windmill could generate almost enough power to run the Buffalo Lake pumping station, according to data just presented to the Buffalo Lake Management Team.
A year-long study into the possibility of running the station with wind power found that a 1.5 megawatt turbine on an 80 metre-high windmill would generate about 2.9 gigawatts of power a year. That is slightly less than what the team had hoped to find, Al Corbett, manager of water …
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Economic benefits, costs of MATL line debated
Not since the Farm Bill that idled thousands of acres of dry cropland in the 1980s, has something-the proposed Great Falls to Alberta high-voltage power line-created such high stakes for area farmers, businesses and politicians.
The most recent event in a three-year long saga was the third and final public hearing in Conrad on March 13 for a privately-funded transmission line that would be built over cropland and grazing lands between a NorthWestern Energy substation near …
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Transmission line hearing generates praise, concerns
A public hearing on what would be the first merchant transmission line between Canada and the United States drew 100 residents to Great Falls on Tuesday, with economic development officials and elected officials singing its praises and farmers raising concerns.
The $150 million Montana Alberta Tie Line would stretch 230 miles — 129 of them in Montana — between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alberta. It’s being proposed by Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary …
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Wind farm proposed for Hat area
Another wind energy company is looking at developing a wind farm in the Medicine Hat area that could be producing 120 megawatts of electricity by late 2009.
The Calgary-based company, Pteragen Canada Inc.’s proposed Peace Butte Wind Power Project would be located 22 km due south of the city and be intersected by the Black and White Trail.
According to the company’s vice president for Western Canada, Carlo Plava, the project — if eventually approved by the …
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TransAlta to build wind power project in Alberta
Power company TransAlta Corp. plans to spend $115 million to build and operate the 66-megawatt Blue Trail wind power project in southern Alberta.
The 22-turbine wind farm planned near Fort Macleod is expected to produce provide an average of 195,000 megawatt hours per year, enough electricity for about 29,000 homes, the company said Wednesday in a release.
“This project will be ready to be commissioned by December 2009, which will help alleviate some of the supply concerns …
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Environmental study released on proposed Alberta-Montana power line
A study of environmental effects from a proposed Alberta-Montana power line has been released, opening a 45-day period for public comment.
The Montana Alberta tie line proposed by a subsidiary of Toronto-based Tonbridge Power would extend 325 kilometres from Lethbridge, Alta., to Great Falls, Mont..
Developers have said the line and related wind-energy projects could lead to $1 billion in investment.
Critics include farmers who would have to work around some of the power apparatus.
Tom Ring of the …
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Epcor wind plan blows into B.C.
City-owned Epcor Utilities Inc. launched a new plan Monday to spread its wings into wind power in British Columbia, atop breezy highlands 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
The proposed Quality Wind Project will erect 60 to 120 turbines on a windswept plateau near the mining town of Tumbler Ridge, on the eastern fringe of the Rocky Mountains, and hook them up to the B.C. electricity grid with 18 kilometres to 25 kilometres of new transmission lines.
The …
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Federal agency set to release tie line study
Major developments in the regulatory review of what would be the first merchant transmission line between Lethbridge, Alberta, and Great Falls are occurring north and south of the border.
The Montana Alberta Tie Line, which is expected to spawn wind farms in northcentral Montana, would be owned by Tonbridge Corp., a Toronto-based energy firm.
State officials announced Friday that an environmental study of the project would be released for public review sometime next week.
On Jan. 31, the …
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