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Many residents of Huron County, and specifically the Municipality of
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, came to Lucknow March 9, to get the details about the
proposed Kingsbridge II Wind Power Project. Capital Power Corporation is planning to put up 100-150 wind turbines in an area from north of Blyth Road, south of Hiway 86, east of Highway 21, and west of Lucknow Line. If all goes according to plan, turbines will supply an additional 270 megawatts of power to the grid by 2013. More than 90 landowners have already expressed interest in having a turbine on their property, said Lori Wilson of Capital Power. "We submitted an application to the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program with the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), in late November of last year," she said. "Throughout 2010, we will be speaking with community members regarding this proposed project. We've started our renewable energy approvals process and that will include consultation with the public, and environmental and cultural studies. If developed and we get a contract with the OPA, we'll have a number of steps to go in this process." She said once approved, the project would be built in 2012 and on-line in 2013. Wilson said Capital Power has received a tremendous response from the community. "We have been leasing land for quite awhile now in this area," she said. "To date, we have more than 18,000 acres optioned, and we still have people contacting us wanting a turbine on their property." She encourages people to ask questions about the project. Capital Power has had an office in Goderich for about five years and any questions can be directed there by calling 519-524-2760 or by E-mail at kingsbridge@capitalpower.com. "We're happy to hear from the community," she said. "It's an important time as we develop this project."
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Meanwhile, Ben Vandiepenbeek, reeve of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, has some concerns. "Wind farms are great for green energy, but we have concerns about the size of this project," he said. "If put in right and the setbacks are met, maybe are concerns can be addressed. A lot of people are for it, but there are always some who are not." He
said there is little the township can do because wind farms are under
the jurisdiction of the province. "We do have concerns about roads and
we have a road-user agreement with Capital Power about where power
lines are to be placed. We will be discussing that further with the
company." |
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