February 1, 2012
Nova Scotia

Chester municipal wind farm likely to be largest in province

By Adam Jacobs, www.southshorenow.ca 1 February 2012

CHESTER – The wind energy project undertaken by the Chester municipality is expected to generate more than $660,000 of direct revenue for the municipality, says the warden.

On December 16 the Minas Basin Pulp and Power Corporation entered into an agreement with the province and the municipality to manufacture wind energy under the provincial COMFIT (Community-Based Feed-in Tariff) program.

On January 26, Minas Basin Pulp and Power met with municipal council to discuss the project, which included the revenue stream.

“This isn’t tax revenue,” Warden Allen Webber said. “This is money that comes directly to us as true revenue.”

The municipality has been approved to develop a 2.3-megawatt wind-to-energy project. Development will be at the Kaizer Meadow site where the Minas Basin Pulp and Power Corporation has been collecting wind data for the past two years. The municipality has agreed to use Minas Basin Pulp and Power’s services to oversee the design, construction and long-term operation of the facility.

The project cost is estimated at approximately $5 million and is expected to generate a positive cash flow beginning in Year 1 of just under $270,000. Revenue is scheduled to increase annually over the 20-year life of the project to approximately $660,000 in Year 20.

The power generated at the site would be sold to Nova Scotia Power to be used on its distribution grid at the 20-year fixed rate of $131 per megawatt hour.

It’s also estimated, depending on their size, that there will be between 33 and 50 wind turbines constructed.

“It will be a forest of turbines,” said John Woods, Minas Basin’s vice-president of energy development.

The construction phase of the project is expected to create over 100 temporary jobs for the better part of a year. After that it is expected four or five permanent jobs will be put in place.

The presentation also shared the other working partners in the project. Oxford Frozen Foods and the Bragg Group stand to benefit from the power generated by the turbines, which is expected, by completion, to be the largest wind farm in the province.

The turbines are expected to be in working order by at least January 15, 2015.

For more information on the COMFIT program, visit the Nova Scotia Department of Energy website at http://gov.ns.ca/news/smr/2011-12-16-COMFIT/.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/01/chester-municipal-wind-farm-likely-to-be-largest-in-province/