May 29, 2014
Ontario

Armow Wind pledges $13.6 million for 20-year wind power deal with Municipality of Kincardine

By Troy Patterson, Kincardine News | Thursday, May 29, 2014 | www.shorelinebeacon.com

The Municipality of Kincardine has received a pledge of $13.6 million over 20 years from the Samsung-Pattern Armow Wind Power project, as the company’s commitment to the community as it moves ahead with construction of the contested project in 2014.

The announcement was made via media release May 28, 2014, as the company prepares to build the 90-turbine, 180MW wind project later this year.

“We appreciate that the agreement with Samsung/Pattern team respects the key considerations set out in the Memorandum of Understanding of early 2013,” said Municipality of Kincardine mayor Larry Kraemer. “As our solicitor has observed, the development agreement should be regarded as “state of the art” in Ontario, and the community benefit package should be seen as a generous contribution with substantial benefit to our municipality.”

Of that amount $1.03 million will be a contribution awards the Kincardine Municipal Airport “for their use to improve local operations,” as well as $12.6 million (or $630,000 a year) to a ‘Community Benefit Reserve Fund’ over 20 years.

Samsung and Pattern said they had also signed a Road Use Agreement with the municipality, which will govern the project’s commitments to ensure safe use of roads during its construction period and full restoration upon the completion of construction.

As part of its agreement with the, Armow Wind also agreed to the following requests from Municipality of Kincardine:

• The company will bury all low-voltage collector lines located on private property carrying electricity from the Project’s wind turbines, “where feasible.” This has been an issue in other wind projects, like Ripley, and listed as a cause of stray or tingle voltage.

• The company will create a Tree Preservation and Replacement Plan.

• The company will follow an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.

• The company will implement a Complaint Resolution Process.

• Turbines will not be located within the Kincardine Airport Vicinity or within 3,000 metres of the Primary and Secondary Urban Communities of Kincardine, Tiverton and the Lake Shore.

The project will be situated northeast of the geographic Town of Kincardine, stretching east of Tiverton into Bruce Township region of the municipality and is expected to begin construction later this year.

The company said the project will “utilize local Ontario-made wind turbine components from the Siemens Energy blade factory in Tillsonburg and the CS Wind tower factory in Windsor.

“Samsung is thankful to become part of this community in Kincardine and proud of the local jobs the project will create,” said Mr. K.J. Kim, the senior vice president of Samsung C&T. “Samsung is dedicated to delivering meaningful benefits to communities where we are building clean, renewable energy projects.”

Pattern CEO Mike Garland said expressed appreciation to “landowners, community members and the municipality.”

“We are excited about being part of this community and we look forward to contributing to the area, including the community, educational and environmental programs,” said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Development.

Combined with the estimated property taxes to be paid by Armow Wind, the Municipality of Kincardine will receive more than $20 million during the project’s first 20 years of operation, according to the media release.

The money will start to flow from Armow Wind “upon reaching operations,” the company said, with funds deposited into the Community Benefit Reserve Fund each year for the following 20 years.

The Community Benefits Reserve Fund will support local initiatives in the Municipality of Kincardine, with these items given as examples by the company:

• Community Infrastructure: roads, airport and municipal servicing infrastructure.

• Community Services: police, fire, emergency medical services and health care.

• Educational programs and job training.

• Energy Sustainability: municipal renewable energy systems, vehicle fleet efficiency upgrades, building energy efficiency upgrades and energy conservation programs.

• Land Stewardship: creating natural habitat, tree planting, shoreline rehabilitation.

• Property tax relief for residents and businesses in the community.

• Public Recreation: construction, renovation or rehabilitation of public arenas, parks and trails.

The Armow Wind project is expected to begin construction in late 2014 and reach operations in 2015.

Upon completion, the company said the project will generate energy equal to the annual electricity needs of approximately 70,000 Ontario homes.

For more information on the company visit www.armowwind.com

[rest of article available at source]


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/05/29/armow-wind-pledges-13-6-million-for-20-year-wind-power-deal-with-municipality-of-kincardine/