National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Wind farm proposed for West Elgin

Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Canada has expressed an interest in building a wind farm in West Elgin.

On July 21, Nicolas Muszynski, development manager for RES Canada, approached the municipal council and discussed a proposed wind farm for West Elgin.

Muszynski let council know that the project is in the very early stages. This first year will be devoted to securing land rights and consulting stakeholders.

“We’ve started some of the securing land rights activities, but I think what’s important to understand is this is not something that’s going to be next year, or even the year after, if ever it does go forward,” said Muszynski. “The main activity is making sure the wind resource is adequate. We have some pretty decent information on the wind resource here.”

The second year of the project would be devoted to environmental assessments and permitting. If the project does move forward, the engineering and design phase of construction wouldn’t begin until year four.

“We’re at the very beginning of the process,” said Muszynski. “This is just a very brief overview.”

In Muszynski’s presentation, he said that 1.25% of the gross revenue generated by the project would be redistributed to landowners who own property within 750m of a wind turbine, and have signed a lease option. Landowners who host turbines on their land would receive a rental payment in addition to the ‘Shared Community Payment’.

Muszynski said that RES Canada would build and service all necessary new access roads and repair any municipal roads damaged during construction.

Muszynski also said that 25% of all project costs would be spent locally for services and products, such as concrete, gravel, fuel, hotels, restaurants, construction and transportation services and equipment.