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Archive for November 19th, 2012

Nov 19

exhibition turbine toronto

The Exhibition Place Turbine in Toronto — The one the GTA loves to brag about — is merely a green energy icon!

Tip of the hat to Wind Concerns Ontario

Scott Luft — Coldair.luftonline.net — November 15, 2012

The Exhibition Turbine: An Icon for Ontario’s Mazza Race

The Toronto Exhibition grounds are the appropriate site of a wind turbine that is frequently described as iconic.What does this icon represent?A review of the performance of Toronto’s wind turbine indicates the financial numbers don’t justify any respect being paid to the project. The turbine has a 600kW capacity – often reported as 750kW because of the capacity of parts of the turbine, but it seems it’s actually 600kW due to the capacity of other parts of the turbine.  The initial costs were $1.8 million, the turbine became operational in January 2004, and the co-op owners reportedly received a dividend payment in January 2005 (4% of share value).

The only one they have ever received, and recent press reports indicate even it is forgotten.The Globe and Mail reported that the turbine performed poorly in 2006, 2007 and 2008; The Toronto Star reported production of 780MWh in 2008, 1064MWh in 2009 and 927MWh in 2010.In March 2011 the turbine broke down, and it would not come back until parts costing $200,000 were found and installed at the start of May. The output in 2011 probably dropped below the 1000MWh estimate, which makes it likely that since 2005 the 1000MWh level was achieved only in 2009.

 

It’s notable that during the period in 2011 when the turbine was awaiting it’s bearings, a video was released where the maintenance is heralded and the performance is sited as being excellent for the past 4 or 5 years.The turbine broke down again in August 2012 and continues to be inoperable.  Not surprisingly, a glowing article appeared in the absence of a functioning turbine – financed by TD Bank and Suncor and posted on the Huffington Post:The Butterfly Effect: How A Single Wind Turbine Led To A Renewable Energy Revolution In Ontario:

“The folks that formed TREC [Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative] really wanted a site that would act as a demonstration, an icon if you will, for the green energy movement.”

(To continue reading, click here)

Nov 19

abandoned

“Proximity to neighbour’s wind installations means we can never build a home on our property”

Hans Janzen — Toronto Sun — November 17, 2012

How does one man’s dream of becoming known as the “Green Premier” become a nightmare for much of rural Ontario?

It’s called the Green Energy Act. It takes away the rights of individual landowners and municipalities to protect themselves from the placement of industrial wind turbines in their jurisdictions.

The mandate of the act is to harness the “free energy” of the wind. The concept sounds great, but the reality is much different.

It’s anything but free, given the rising evidence of health issues, bird and bat kills, lost property values and unsustainable electricity rates.

These wind farms do not get built without massive government subsidies from our already near-bankrupt government.

In 2004, my family and I purchased a 32.6-acre parcel of farmland in the Township of West Lincoln. It fulfilled our lifelong dream of owning a farm. Our land produces soybeans, wheat and corn. In 2007, we built a barn and we are continuing to improve the farm for future endeavours. We have not yet built a house on our site.

In 2011, we received a letter from a local wind developer looking for landowners willing to lease their farm land for the installation of industrial wind turbines.

We naively believed people in our area would not lease their land to these corporations, but money talks.

The leases for the land pay $50,000 per year per turbine for 20 years.

Our neighbour leased her agricultural land to the wind developer for the installation of two, three-megawatt industrial turbines, one of which is to be located about 70 metres (230 ft) from our property line. The turbine is to be about 500 metres (1640 feet) from our existing building and 440 metres (1440 feet) from our planned home site, despite the province’s 550 metre (1805 feet) setback rule.

If we build our house anywhere on our property, we would be accepting this turbine has been placed too close to a receptor, the fancy term for people who are affected by these devices. We are not receptors. We are people.

(To continue reading, click here)