February 5, 2020
Alberta

Wind farm generating anger, not power, in Lomond

Written by Russell Skeet | Strathmore Now | Tuesday, 04 February 2020 | strathmorenow.com

A proposed new wind farm around Lomond is generating a lot of opposition from area residents.

The plan would see 87, 183 metre high turbines placed in the area on five separate properties.

To put it in perspective, 183 metres is 600 feet high, or 26 feet shorter than the Calgary Tower, which clocks in at 191 metres or 626 feet.

The wind farm will be located on five privately owned pieces of land in the area, including a nearby Hutterite Colony and cover an area of 24,000 acres.

Lomond area farmer and rancher, Justin Helland, says nobody spoke to any of the residents before the plan was unveiled.

“There was no consultation at all, the colony didn’t consult the community. Yeah, it’s concerning. There’s a lot of concerns. It would have been nice if the community could have gotten together and considered a project of this nature.”

He says in the past, he and others near to projects like this would be compensated through a “pooling payment” program.

“Not a lot but they would be compensated for being next to the wind turbines. The way this proceeded, that model was not proposed or offered. It’s quite a thing to be asked to live next to these massive turbines without any compensation or recognition of their effects at all.”

Helland says the company looking to build the wind farm, ABO Wind out of Germany, has yet to apply to the Alberta Utilities Commission to build it.

He says he and dozens of other residents are waiting for that to happen so they can officially register their opposition to the plan.

Helland says the project has him concerned about the effect on his cattle as well as the effect on him and his family and others in the area.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/02/05/wind-farm-generating-anger-not-power-in-lomond/