May 17, 2013
Ontario

Construction on Nanticoke wind farm to start in June

By Jennifer Vo | The Sachem & Glanbrook Gazette | May 17, 2013 | www.sachem.ca

Residents in Nanticoke can expect construction of an additional 45 Industrial Wind Turbines in the area.

At the Tuesday, May 14 Council in Committee meeting, representatives from Capital Power Corporation appeared to give council members an update on the construction timeline of the wind farm in the Nanticoke and Port Dover area.

Construction on the 58-wind turbine farm is anticipated to start as early as June and could carry on until late October, but instead of working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. workdays, the company planned to work 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday in hopes of finishing the project sooner.

“Extending working hours… will enable the project to be constructed quicker and provide greater control over the associated construction schedule,” stated in the letter from the wind company to Haldimand County. “The benefit to the community will be a shorter period of disruption and reduced road congestion associated with our construction activities.”

Anthony Zlahtic, director of commercial services at Capital Power, said the extended hours would likely provide a 1/3 reduction in time spent on the site. The company wasn’t asking council for an exemption from the noise bylaw, but was there to simply inform council that their extended work hours wouldn’t break the noise bylaw.

The company said the work that would be done from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. wouldn’t be any louder than 43 dB at the loudest allowing the company to remain within reason of the noise bylaw.

The company even hired a noise analysis to be done and a noise expert to speak to council members about the construction project. Zlahtic said the company planned to continue to monitor the noise and report any noise complaints they may receive as well as come up with other strategies if necessary.

According to Zlahtic, a large number of the turbine parts would be coming in via rail near the U.S. Steel site and loaded onto flatbed trucks, while the hubs would be coming in from Brampton. About seven turbines would come in per week onto the site, and the company confirmed that no road construction or heavy load deliveries would be done after 7 p.m.

“The process that Capital Power is proposing is going to be very similar to what is already occurring,” said Councillor Leroy Bartlett. “What we see is what we’re going to get. The sooner we can get construction through, the less interruption to people’s lives.”

Capital Power Corporation received its Renewable Energy Approval (REA) in July 2012. The project will see 58 Industrial Wind Turbines constructed in Nanticoke and Port Dover with Nanticoke taking 45 of them. The 104.4MW project will produce enough electricity to power 25,000 typical Ontario homes a year.