The Saugeen Times

Acciona Energy plans wind farm in Armow area
By Liz Dadson

Kincardine council

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Acciona Energy is going out on its own to develop an 80-megawatt wind farm near Armow in the Municipality of Kincardine.

Paul Austin, community relations manager for Acciona, made a brief presentation at Kincardine council Wednesday night (March 10), near the end of its four-hour marathon planning meeting.

Acciona worked with Suncor to build the wind farm near Ripley, but that partnership has now been dissolved, said Austin, and Acciona is spearheading its own project, covering about 12,000 acres in the area bound by Highway 21 to the west, the Northline to the south, Bruce County Road 1 to the east and Bruce County Road 20 to the north.

Because the company has not yet chosen a manufacturer for the wind turbines, the number of turbines is still to be determined, said Austin.

A Notice of Commencement of the project will be publicized this week, he said, with an open house slated for April at the Armow Hall.

Austin said Acciona is not as well-known in Canada as Suncor. A 100-year-old, multi-billion-dollar global company, Acciona has pioneered renewable energy solutions for nearly 20 years, he said. It is active in all major renewable energy solutions - solar, wind, biomass, bio-fuels, and small hydro. It is operating in 30 countries on five continents and and has 40,000-plus employees. It is the second largest provider of energy from renewable sources in the world.

Acciona began optioning land for the Armow project in 2006, said Austin, and wind data collection began in 2007. The project is currently registered in the Ontario Power Authority (OPA)'s Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program, awaiting notification of contract opportunities.

"The rules have changed," he said, "and we're in the queue. The FIT opportunities are closely related to available transmission capacity and connections. We should know by this year."

In 2007, Acciona met with landowners, the Kincardine building and planning committee and Bruce County council. It began working with the Kincardine Airport committee on airport vicinity mapping which was a very important step, said Austin.

In the past couple of years, the company has initiated some environmental studies, preliminary conversation with Aboriginal stakeholders, and continued monitoring wind data.

"Now, we're just waiting for the OPA," said Austin, adding that the open house in April will kick off the public consultation process.

Also see

Letters What went wrong with energy in Ontario by Keith Stelling

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Monday, April 26, 2010