June 17, 2014
Nova Scotia

Second public meeting in Seabrook about Long Island wind turbines

Jonathan Riley | Published on June 17, 2014 | www.novanewsnow.com

Wind energy developer Bruce Thompson is holding another public information session about his proposed project for Long Island – this meeting will be at the municipal offices in Seabrook on Thursday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m.

“I want to let people know about the plans and give people access to information about the project,” Thompson told the Courier. “In the bigger picture, Digby County has staked a claim as an area of growth for clean energy. So I want to make people aware of the advancements being made, and yes, I want to make them aware of the economic opportunity.”

Thompson is the president of Blue Sky Electricity Cooperative, which is proposing to erect between two and six 50-kilowatt wind turbines on Long Island.

He plans to structure the project as a community feed-in tariff project (COMFIT) meaning the cooperative could sell their power at a special rate to Nova Scotia Power.

To qualify, he needs a certain level of community investment. He is looking for 25 investors from the Municipality of the District of Digby.

He held a meeting June 5 in Tiverton and says the project was well received.

“We had good questions,” he said. “Questions about ‘How will this affect me?’ That’s the question everyone wants to understand.”

Thompson says this would be the first cooperative to participate in the COMFIT program.

“This is the first its kind and I think you’ll see it replicated in other areas of Nova Scotia,” he said. “I’d like to do some other small wind projects, perhaps in Yarmouth County, maybe Annapolis County.

“This is another way for Nova Scotians to participate in the business of electricity.”

Thompson says the project would produce enough electricity to power about 100 homes.

“It’s not a grid impacting project,” he said. “The whole point of small scale production is that it be produced and consumed near source,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk about how we want to diversify and stratify energy creation, rather than have three or our massive energy plants producing power.

“It’s just like local food,” he said. “We need to get back to more of a situation where people are growing and consuming at source – well it’s the same with electricity.”

Thompson invites anyone interested in clean energy or new economic opportunities in Digby County to attend the meeting.

He’s planning on a 45-minute slideshow followed by questions.

[More details in our earlier story: Public meeting about wind turbines for Long Island, June 6 ]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/06/17/second-public-meeting-in-seabrook-about-long-island-wind-turbines/