Wind Power News: Manitoba
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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 out of sails for Central Plains
News of a proposed wind farm project for St. Joseph, in the Winnipeg area, being selected for development, has taken some of the wind out of the sails of developers hoping to get the go-ahead for projects in the St. Ambroise and Macdonald areas in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie.
However, Reeve Toby Trimble said he is not disappointed the St. Joseph project was selected instead of the local proposals.
He said, in the meantime, …
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BowArk shows their wind farm plans
Love them or hate them, people in the St. Joseph area were very eager to see exactly where the new wind turbines will be placed in the recently approved St. Joseph Wind Farm Project put forward by BowArk.
More than 100 people were in the door shortly after the open house began, April 8, looking at maps to see where the turbines would go.
Simulated before and after pictures covered the displays and the project also showed …
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Landowners could get big windfalls from wind turbines in Manitoba
A new wind farm project awaiting final approval in Manitoba would be among the richest in Canada, with landowners paid $10,500 per year for every turbine on their land.
Manitoba Hydro announced this week it had chosen BowArk’s proposal for turbines in St. Joseph from more than 80 wind-farm proposals in Manitoba.
The two sides will now sit down for final negotiations.
The Crown-owned utility must choose between a 100-megawatt project, a 200-megawatt project or a 300-megawatt project …
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New wind farm eyed for Manitoba
Manitoba Hydro, a provincial government-owned utility, said Monday it will negotiate with a subsidiary of Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown Ltd. to build a new wind farm in the province.
The company proposed several options to Manitoba Hydro to produce up to 300 megawatts of wind power, said Adam Macdonald, head of Babcock & Brown’s energy development in Canada.
The project could involve capital costs of more than $600 million, Manitoba Hydro said, and could generate …
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Plan ahead to avoid dangers of going green, groups urge
Going green shouldn’t mean getting killed.
That’s the message two groups are promoting as the province pushes ahead with wind power and the possibility of allowing more fuel-efficient vehicles on the road.
Crop dusters say the spread of gigantic wind turbines creates a hazard for pilots, while members of the blind community say hybrid and electric cars make no noise, posing a potentially deadly hazard for blind pedestrians.
Groups representing the blind and aerial sprayers have written to …
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Montcalm sticks to their guns on setbacks after hearing
The RM of Montcalm has moved ahead with their plan to change the minimum setback for wind turbines from 300 metres from a residence to 500 metres, despite opposition at a public hearing earlier this month.
CAO Mitch Duval said the hearing attracted 18 people, of which only three spoke up on the planned changes.
Asking for more
All three also wanted increased setbacks, but asked for more than council was prepared to give.
Frank Paetkau, a landowner two …
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Wind turbine projects make short list
Several wind farm proposals in the Red River Valley have made it to the next stage of the wind Request for Proposal (RFP) process, after Manitoba Hydro announced a shortlist of 10 possible sites.
Seven wind developers represent the 10 locations across Manitoba, and they have been invited to provide final offers to develop and supply wind-generated energy to Manitoba Hydro.
Glenn Schneider, division manager of public affairs said one of the projects is in the Rosenfeld …
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Wind energy debate blows through AMM
Power companies do not seem concerned the Government of Manitoba might be dragging its heels on wind power.
The issue was a hot point of discussion last week at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention in Brandon when David Huggill, Western Canada policy analyst for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, took Manitoba Hydro to task for not moving fast enough in getting wind energy projects off the ground.
“There are some players,” said Huggill,”who are quite prepared …
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Wind farming about to take flight
A proposal to rezone an area of land in the Rural Municipality of Cartier, which may one day be the site of a new wind farm project, will be the subject of a public hearing next month.
On Dec. 4, residents will meet with White Horse Plains Planning District at St. Francois Xavier Community Hall at 7 p.m. to discuss rezoning the land for the municipality of Cartier.
“The zoning will allow it to happen,” said RM …
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Group seeks changes in wind by-law
Norman Schmidt hasn’t always been opposed to wind farms.
In fact, when Sequoia Energy Inc. held an open house in Altona in 2006, he said he saw the technology of wind energy as a bright, environmentally-sound solution to hydro, and a great supplement to agriculture.
But soon, Schmidt began to question how these enormous wind turbines would affect the people who had to live near them. He and his wife moved to their 12-acre property near Altona …
