BRINSTON — The developer of a Brinston wind farm that awaits local approval is applauding proposed new provincial legislation imposing a six-month deadline on municipalities to issue building permits for alternative energy projects.
"It would take away the need for us to do an Official Plan amendment [at the United Counties] and zoning amendment [at South Dundas Township]," Luke Geleynse, executive director for Prowind Inc., said of the Green Energy Act introduced at Queen’s Park late last month. "It would also give the municipalities and the counties direction from the province that they are asking for today."
However, the firm wants to proceed as soon as possible and can’t wait for the Act to be passed into law. As a result, it still requires Counties Council and South Dundas Council to quickly pass the required municipal amendments under existing rules, Geleynse said.
Kemptville-based Prowind Inc., which grew out of a milking equipment business in Brinston, plans to develop 525 Megawatts of wind power at various sites around North America. A 10-Megawatt, four-tower installation just north of Black Creek (also known as the South Branch), on land owned by Thurler Farms, is slated to be the firm’s very first project to break ground.
Regulatory paperwork on the $22- to $24-million project was submitted early enough to beat a provincial freeze on alternative energy project applications in Eastern Ontario — slapped down by the Ontario Power Authority last spring over grid capacity concerns. As a result, it has a power-selling contract and approval from Hydro One for a grid connection (into the wires running alongside the Brinston Rd.) — big hurdles not yet overcome on the firm’s other Ontario projects.
Remaining approval for the South Branch development now rests with local government exclusively.
"It’s the largest step we need to take now. We’d love to see the municipality move that ahead quickly," said Geleynse of the desired Official Plan and zoning amendments.
The company wants to ink a deal for an innovative tower construction system, he said, but can’t do so unless the municipal building permits are in hand by this spring.
Rather than importing and assembling 300-foot-tall steel towers from Europe, Prowind wants to cut costs by making the hollow structures from local concrete and labour, using the system purchased from a California company.
Local workers would pour the interlocking tower sections off site, likely somewhere in Dundas County, according to Geleynse. The resulting pieces would be put together at the wind farm with cranes, mortared together and then covered in stucco. Each tower would be topped with a 2.5-Megawatt turbine accessible via a ladder or small elevator inside the tapered concrete shaft.
"We’d hire local guys, and pour and build the sections locally," he said, suggesting a two-thirds cost savings over conventional steel towers as well as more local jobs created during construction. Concrete towers are stronger and have a longer life span — at 40 years. The towers could be disassembled and replaced at the end of their useful life, he added.
Their innovative design would make Brinston a drawing card for visiting wind industry executives from around the world, he said.
A delay in securing the building permits would compel Prowind to put up steel towers, he explained, as the California offer is time-limited.
Prowind Inc. currently plans 13 Ontario wind farms, including three additional 10-Megawatt installations in Dundas County — at Tibben Farms in Brinston, Joe Spruit’s farm on Kerr’s Ridge Rd., Zollinger Farms outside Winchester, and at Bill Byker’s Glen Stewart farm, near the boundary with Leeds-Grenville.
At an open house event last month, Geleynse expressed frustration at the governmental obstacles to wind power development in Ontario, suggesting, "a lot of companies are leaving Ontario and heading to New Brunswick or the U.S." to reach their goals.
But Prowind views Dundas County in particular as home turf. Growing up near Inkerman, Geleynse personally knew the farmers on whose land Prowind now wants to build, before he ever got into the wind power business. "We’re not a corporation from downtown Toronto. If I can bring jobs to South Dundas and North Dundas, it’s because it’s my home."
He sounded a more optimistic note after the introduction of the Green Energy Act, saying his phone was "ringing off the hook" because of the province’s new direction. The provincial government, he added, was "potentially creating a very hot market" for alterative energy developers.
"It would be a real boost for Prowind," he enthused, also noting anticipated changes in the rates paid for alternative energy.
"It could give us a better return, which could effect the high cost of borrowing money." While the new kW/h rate for wind power hasn’t been released yet, "everybody in the industry feels it will be higher than the current 11 cents," he said.