The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 15:09:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Green Bean
Subject: Wind - 75 Cents per Watt

Less than $1 (Canadian?) per watt.
Josh

Jul. 28, 2003. 07:56 AM

Energy firm to harvest the wind
67 giant turbines proposed for gusty Blue Mountain

$150 million farm expected to supply 32,000 homes

ROBERTA AVERY
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

A Hamilton energy company has been acquiring the wind
energy rights for about 1,800 hectares of land on top
of Blue Mountain in preparation for building a giant
wind farm.

As many skiers know, the top of Blue Mountain is one
of the windiest places in Ontario and with a major
electricity transmission power line crossing the top
of the mountain, it is an ideal location to harvest
wind power, said David Boileau, spokesperson for
Superior Wind Energy Inc.

"There's wind in all four directions,'' said Boileau,
whose northwestern Ontario company Harmony Wind Energy
owns a 49 per cent stake in Hamilton-based Superior
Wind Energy Inc. Brascan Power Inc. owns the remaining
51 per cent.

Following extensive wind-power mapping across the
province, which identified seven areas where the wind
is strong enough to make wind farms viable, Superior
conducted an 18-month test on top of Blue Mountain,
just west of Collingwood.

The average wind speeds on top of Blue Mountain were
measured at 7.5 metres per second compared with a wind
speed average in most other areas of 5.5 metres per
second.

The extra two metres per second means a 250 per cent
increase in electrical power generated.

Reaction to the company's proposal to build a $150
million wind park called Blue Highlands with 67 giant
turbines on top of one of Ontario's prime tourist
attractions has been mixed.

"About 80 per cent are in favour, but there are those
who have expressed concerns about wind turbines in
their viewscape, '' said John Worts, who lives on the
mountain and has been hired as a consultant by
Superior Power.

Worts' mandate is to find landowners interested in
signing 30-year leases for the wind turbines to be
built on their property.

The company is selecting properties that are 20
hectares and larger so that the turbines can be built
away from homes and roads.

Lea McKean and her husband, whose family has owned
property on top of the mountain for five generations,
won't be signing a lease.

"What an imposition on the escarpment — it (the wind
farm) is going to destroy the scenic beauty of the
area so it's not only the landowners whose property
the turbines will be built on who will be affected,''
said McKean.

The proposed turbines will be 85 metres tall and have
40-metre blades.

"That's one-fifth the size of the CN tower and that's
not even counting the blade,'' said McKean.

Those who are moving up to the area to escape city
life should be aware that this will alter the
landscape, said McKean.

"It's said that tourism may profit from wind parks
because they are quite a spectacle to see, but will
people actually want to live with turbines in their
backyard?'' said McKean.

Worts disagrees.

"I've had numerous calls from people asking us to
select their property as a site,'' he said.

People who have property facing out toward Georgian
Bay won't see the turbines and trees will obscure most
of the turbines from anywhere on the top of the
mountain, said Worts.

The turbines won't be visible from the slopes of Blue
Mountain, but will likely be seen on the horizon from
Collingwood, 10 kilometres away, he said.

Superior plans to build turbines in clusters of two to
three on each property and will pay landowners a
royalty estimated to be around $3,000 per year for
each turbine.

The power lines will be buried underground.

After initial public consultation, the company has
scaled back its plan to build 200 turbines and has
moved the wind park back from the brow of the Niagara
Escarpment.

It's estimated the 67 turbines will produce up to 200
megawatts of electricity, enough power to supply
32,000 homes.

Boileau, who built a hydroelectric power plant in
northern Ontario, believes the time for wind power has
come.

"It's no longer experimental,'' he said.

A commitment by Ontario's alternative energy
commissioner, Steve Gilchrist, to add 3,000 megawatts
of renewable energy-generating capacity by 2014 will
be phased in starting in 2006.

That means firms such as Superior, which is also
planning a wind farm near Sault Ste. Marie, will be
able to seek the power purchase agreements they will
need to get financing for wind farm projects, said
Boileau.

Boileau hopes construction will begin next year at
Blue Highlands, but admits there are a lot of
regulatory hoops to jump through.

They include conducting an environmental assessment
and getting planning approval from different levels of
local government.


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