New developments have taken place in Addington Highlands and North Frontenac during the late winter. Both townships have been approached by a wind energy developer (NextEra - based in Florida and in Canada) with a proposal of erecting ultimately 100 wind turbines in AH and 50 in NF. The plan thus far to situate these turbines in the north east corner of AH relatively close to Denbigh and in the north west corner of NF.

The wind turbines will be about 20km (Vennachar) to 25 km (Denbigh) as the crow flies from the north end of Mazinaw Lake. The wind turbines will not be noticed by cottagers on the lake. It is obviously a very different story for residents of  Denbigh and surrounding areas.

NextEra made a presentation to the township councils during the late winter and one at a public meeting in Denbigh on April 9 - arranged on a rather short notice: The presentation can be found at this link: http://www.addingtonhighlands.ca/NextEra.pdf

This is their promotional take on this issue and should be scrutinized carefully by all who vote on this project and individuals affected by the wind turbines. In late May there will be a Community Open House in AH - date and location not yet announced.

Wind energy divides communities into opposing camps and good arguments can be found on each side. As a cottage association concerned about the health of our lake and life on the lake we should think first of all in those terms. Every seasonal or permanent residence can of course take actions that would further his/her thinking on this matter. For further information on wind energy you may want to follow this link: 

http://windconcernsontario.ca

Ultimately, each township council is being asked to approve or reject these wind energy projects. It is their duty to carefully weigh the pros and cons and listen to the residents of the township. It is also a fact that a rejection by a township would not block a wind energy project due to the Ontario Green Energy Act (GEA) which favours developers of renewable energies.  

Assuming the wind project is approved, it will have a noticeable impact on the balance sheet of the townships of Addington Highlands and NF.  In case of AH it means somewhere around $450,000 new property tax (shared roughly one third each with the county, the education budget and AH)  plus $350,000 ‘Community Vibrancy Fund’ annually (200 Mega Watts in case of AH times $1,750 for each MWatt capacity of the wind turbines).  These sums represent a sizable portion of the township’s budget  (according to Henry Hogg approx. 7% in AH). For a township that has hardly any other industrial tax base it would be an attractive offer. (NextEra or any other wind energy developer will have to sell the electricity at a competitive rate like any new gas or nuclear power plant.)

NextEra’s application to Ontario Energy Board will be looked at more favourably if community support for this project can be secured.

I just learned that AH council will hear from another developer of wind energy shortly. A bit of competition might be a good thing. One would hope that both township councils will seek proper legal advice in dealing with these international developers in order to get all the necessary assurances.

There are a number of meetings that you can attend to learn more on this topic:

1) Denbigh public meeting May 30 at 1pm in the Denbigh Community Hall.  The topic is the Industrial Wind Turbine Proposal in Addington Highlands & North Frontenac Townships.  Guest speakers will be Parker Gallant, VP & board member of WindConcernsOntario; and Carmen Krogh, Published Researcher, Health Effects & Industrial wind energy facilities.   These two people have a wealth of information to share with us and each will do a short presentation of aproximately 20 minutes in length at the beginning and then we'll be able to ask questions.  This is a meeting you are not going to want to miss.

2) Open House organized by NextEra at the Denbigh Township Hall June 5th from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. (122 Hwy 28, Denbigh, ON). NextEra Canada Development & Acquisitions, Inc. is proposing to build the Northpoint II Wind Energy Centre in the Township of Addington Highlands. As per the NextEra communication wrt this meeting: Residents are invited to stop in, meet the NextEra staff and discuss the proposed project with them.  There will be a brief presentation on turbine siting at 6:30 p.m. 

3) North Frontenac Township meeting in Harlowe (Community Hall) Saturday June 6 (10am - 2pm).    The North Frontenac meeting will be run by the township, will include presentations, including one by NextEra and will allow for a questions and answer session involving the public.

As well, there are numerous sites to get information from:

http://ontario-wind-resistance.org/
http://www.windvictimsontario.com/
www.windconcernsontario.ca