October 1, 2006
Ontario

City okays wind farm tests

Local officials confirm Thunder Bay may see a new source of energy in the future.

The City of Thunder Bay has entered into an agreement to allow testing for possible establishment of a wind farm. A company from Toronto will be testing winds on a city-owned parcel of land surrounding Loch Lomond, to see if the site would be appropriate for such an operation.

A company out of Toronto will soon be testing Thunder Bay land to see the potential for wind farm production. Horizon Energy Legacy Corp. has signed a 3-year license agreement with the City of Thunder Bay to allow the company to explore what the wind is like in the city-owned area around Loch Lomond.

”At this point, we’ve entered into an exclusive agreement that would allow this particular developer to do some testing to see if there’s enough wind regime up there to establish a wind farm. And then subject to that test, we would get into negotiations to establish windmills.”

Petrie says if a wind farm is developed it would provide non-polluting energy for the city, and add to the economy. He says it’s hard to tell what the test outcomes will be right now, but it’s definitely possible for the city to see a wind farm in the future.

”I would have to believe since they’re prepared to spend a fair bit of money to go and do the investigation, that they believe there is some possibility that there is a good opportunity for development of wind energy from the winds that blow across the mountains off the lake” he said.

Petrie says before the company would be able to install anything, the city would negotiate where and how many windmills would be installed and discuss either a lease arrangement or a share of profits with the City for the use of the land.

tbsource.com


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/10/01/city-okays-wind-farm-tests/