Wind Turbine Farm

[phishtaper]

Does anyone know of a large scale wind turbine farm being constructed somewhere in south western ontario?

I drive Hwy 6 everyday, and see three sets of trucks transporting gigantic turbine blades each morning along #6 from Hamilton towards Guelph. Each blade is an impressive sight, probably close to 30m long. So far, I have seen at least 20 sets of three. My guess is that they are heading up to somewhere north of Guelph, maybe near Georgian Bay or Lake Huron, but I have no idea.

Ive googled to no avail. Anyone know anything about this?

[Esau.]

While reading my unions monthly magazine - I.B.E.W (International Brotherhood Of Electrical workers), there was an article about us sending guys up to Kincardine to work, this was one of the links in the mag. I'll see if I still have it & find the other info.

http://www.huronwind.com/huronwind/

[\/\/illy]

There was an article the other day (I'll see if I can find it) about Ontario opening the largest wind farm in Canada. It was near the connection of Lake Huron to Lake Superior from what I recall. 98 Megawatts right now and 198 Megawatts when up to full capacity. Alberta is the biggest competitor.

[Esau.]

From the link I posted...

Huron Wind, Ontario's first commercial wind farm, is located on the shore of Lake Huron in Bruce County, Ontario.

The site is seven kilometres northwest of Tiverton in the municipality of Kincardine, just west of Highway 21 on Concession 4.

From the ground to the highest blade tip, the Huron Wind 1.8-megawatt turbines are 117-metres tall.

[\/\/illy]

Yea, here's the article I was reading:

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/22/wind.html

"He said the project has begun generating up to 99 megawatts of power this week. Once both phases of the project are complete, it will have a capacity of 198 megawatts."

"According to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the province's target is for renewable energy such as wind to make up five per cent of its energy capacity — approximately 1,350 megawatts — by 2007."

[\/\/illy]

[Sunshine]

I know there's a large one right around Shelbourne.

As far as the Georgian Bay region I know of the one that stands alone on the way up to Tobermory.

[\/\/illy]

They look big.

[Esau.]

That first set of pics is actually the ones I posted about, the URL gave that away (Huronwind.jpg), actually all the pics are.

[edit to add]

117 meters tall.

Edited November 24, 2006 by Guest

[allison]

There is a proposal, for I believe, Ontarios largest turbine farm to be built along the escarpment from I believe around Shelburne to north of Owen Sound.There is an amazing amount of negative press about it up here (Collingwood).Mostly from rich landowners on the mountain ridges who says it destroys the natural beauty of the area.The same landowners who commute from Toronto in gas guzzling SUV's and give nothing to the local economy.I'll find some links later today if I can.Signs are all over the place saying STop the Wind Farm.

[Esau.]

Heres a link from my union mag about the wind farm Willy posted about.

http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=electricity.newenergymap

http://www.brookfieldpower.com/PowerOperations/other.htm

[Esau.]

dirtybird,

Theres mention of the one your talking about also, this is yet another link, this one pertaining to the one your talking about.

Brascan Power Wind was proposing to install a 120 MW (approximately 67 turbines) wind power generation facility on top of the Niagara Escarpment in The Town of Blue Mountains and the Municipality of Grey Highlands.

http://www.bhcc.ca/proposal.htm

[timouse]

the thing that seems to cause the most opposition to wind turbines is the low rumble that a wind farm emits.

there are cases pending in california and possibly in england where property owners are suing wind farm operators for distress caused by the low rumble...as far as the look, they may be a bit weird to look at, but jeebus, it's free clean power! put them where they won't disturb people with the noise and let's make some clean electricitry already

[questcequecest?]

the parts are probably heading to the Goderich area.. (Kingsbridge II Wind Farm)

5 major project were awarded contracts in that region in the last two provincial RFPs for renewable power.

Renewables I

Renewables II

currently, the largest operating wind farm in canada is the Prince Wind Farm near Sault Ste. Marie (189MW). although bigger projects are scheduled to be built.

here'a picture of the Prince Wind farm

here's me checking out the Melancthon Wind farm during construction. this is the one near Shelburne, ON.

[questcequecest?]

the hotly contested wind farm near collingwood is not happening...

a different project, the Melancthon wind farm near shelburne has completed phase I (the smaller phase), and phase II is facing some opposition. ..not sure how it will play out. it is being built by Canadian Hydro Developers

[The Constable]

I know some folks in the Chatham-Kent area (several kms off of Lake Erie) who've been approached about having these turbines erected on their farmland. Apparently the proposals have been pretty lucrative in terms of initial and future compensation.

The upside of utilizing these gigantic turbines, aside from taking advantage of an obviously unlimited energy source, is that they take up relatively little farmland allowing the majority of space to still be used for agricultural purposes. The mechanical portion of the turbine itself is housed underground.

[bradm]

The mechanical portion of the turbine itself is housed underground.

[color:purple]Please, won't someone think of the groundhogs, moles, and earthworms?

Aloha,

Brad

[Esau.]

questcequecest? you would know about this. I remember while working at Bruce Nuclear years back that there was a proposal to have some turbines actually out in Lake Huron on sand bars I believe (I could be mistaken), but I can't remember if it was just talk or if it was turned down by local residents or somthing. I assume its the Huron Winds who were proposing it, but don't remember the specifics.

I've had my name down on the list at my union hall since around 99 to get on one of these projects but I haven't reached the hiring postions yet. I'd love to get on one eventually.

[AD]

Huron Wind is only 5 turbines. The one near Shelbourne is pretty impressive, have driven by that one many times. The centre of rotation thingy on the turbines is the size of a school bus.

Here's some projects going on in Ontario:

* 99 MW—Erie Shores Wind Farm, Erie Shores Wind Farm L.P. (Port Burwell)

* 99MW—Prince Wind Farm, Superior Wind Energy Inc. (Prince Township, near Sault Ste. Marie)

* 67.5 MW—Melancthon Grey Wind Project, Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. (Shelbourne)

* 39.6 MW—Kingsbridge Wind Power Project, EPCOR (Goderich)

[Blane]

The quebec gov't has really invested in wind power, particluarly around the Gaspe peninsula. They've got projects totalling 3,000MW planned there now.

Also, Algoma Steel up in Sault Ste. Marie is starting to produce the components for the towers.

[questcequecest?]

Alabama Man, i don't know of any off-shore projects for lake huron. i don't expect to see anything built there though, as the bruce area is heavily constrained by transmission capacity.. there are more projects there than can be built under current infrastructure & policy.

...and the center of rotation thingy is where the mechanical parts are, no worries about the ground hogs. it's called a nacelle !

[Esau.]

Cool thanks. Wasn't sure if I was remembering correctly or not, obviously not. Thought it strange with all the new construction & maintenance we were doing at the Bruce.

[questcequecest?]

no doubt you could have heard talk about it... there's lots of people trying to cash in on the current wind energy boom.

[\/\/illy]

I've often thought that a small turbine hung off the back of my belt and facing my ass could potentially generate enough power to keep my iPod and cell phone charged.

Phhhhhhhhttttt...