May 25, 2012
British Columbia

Cluculz Lake area site of wind power testing

Mark Nielsen, The Prince George Citizen | www.princegeorgecitizen.com 25 May 2012

A Vancouver company is seeking the provincial government’s permission to test the feasibility of establishing a wind farm just north of Cluculz Lake.

M.K. Ince and Associates has submitted an application to the Integrated Land Management Bureau for a licence to install a meteorological tower to assess wind speeds and directions over one or more years.

The tower would be installed in one of five approved sites over a 3,227 square hectare area, each a cleared site or area of active forestry and away from lakes and streams. A field assessment will determine which site to use.

It’s the second such application from M.K. Ince for the Prince George area. In January, it submitted one in the Isle Pierre area just to the east and is one of six sites for a meterological tower over a 3,200-square-hectare area.

Potentially, two windfarms of up to 25 turbines each could be established, each enough to produce 60 megawatts of power annually or enough power for about 10,000 homes. Each of the turbines would be 100 metres tall with 40-metre blades and there would be a substation connecting the farm to the B.C. Hydro grid.

Construction could begin as early as 2013 at the Isle Pierre site and by spring 2015 for the site north of Cluculz Lake.

Other companies have submitted applications to the bureau for the Prince George area in advance of a call for clean power from B.C. Hydro.

Ontario-based Northland Power Inc. is seeking a licence for a 4,144-hectare site near Cobb Lake, 40 kilometres west of Prince George, and a 3,658-hectare site near Marie Lake, 22 km southwest of Fort St. James.

The farms would be large enough to both generate at least 100 megawatts of power each year.

In April 2011, an investigative licence was granted to Vancouver-based Sea Breeze Power Corp. for a 3,151-hectare site at Burnstead Creek and a 3,751-hectare site at Darby Lake, both in the vicinity of Eskers and Stuart Lake provincial parks.

For more information and to comment on the proposals, visit www.arfd.gov.bc.ca.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/05/25/cluculz-lake-area-site-of-wind-power-testing/