November 11, 2011
Nova Scotia

Amherst to see second wind project? Wind Prospect considering project on the marsh

Darrell Cole, www.cumberlandnewsnow.com 10 November 2011

UPPER NAPPAN – It appears as though the marsh near Amherst could become home to a second wind project.

Austen Hughes of Wind Prospect, an international wind farm developer, said his company is considering placing up to three turbines on the marsh west of the existing Sprott Power project.

“It’s at the very early stages right now. We submitted our application to the provincial Energy Department’s COMFIT program and we’re proposing three turbines, six megawatts in total,” Hughes said.

Hughes expects public consultation to begin in the coming weeks and expects the project to be developed over the next two to three years if the Energy Department approves the project.

The project is dependent on the provincial COMFIT renewable energy program that includes a community-based feed in tariff. The program aims to achieve at least 100 megawatts of renewable energy through smaller scale, community-based renewable energy projects while relying more heavily on better suited wind, tidal, hydro and biomass larger programs to achieve the balance of the object – getting 40 per cent off all electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Hughes said the Amherst project would see local community investors support the project financially in return for an ownership stake.

Wind Prospect was founed in Bristol, England in 1997 and has wind projects around the globe generating more than 21,000 megawatts of electricity. In Nova Scotia, it’s also involved in the Falmouth project near Antigonish. That two-turbine project will generate 4.6 megawatts of power.

Sprott Power is in the midst of a $61-million project on the marsh that will generate 31.5-megawatts – enough to power 10,000 homes. That project is expected to begin generating electricity early in 2012.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/11/amherst-to-see-second-wind-project-wind-prospect-considering-project-on-the-marsh/