Bowater Mersey among N.S. green energy projects
SHERWOOD, LUNENBURG CO. – Energy Minister Charlie Parker announced this morning the second group of projects to receive approval under a program that promotes renewable electricity in Nova Scotia.
“Our whole goal is to get off coal and oil and replace those fossil fuels with green energy,” Parker said during the announcement at the Kaizer Meadow Environmental Management landfill site, inland from Chester. He said there have been 93 applications so far from more than a dozen community groups in every region of Nova Scotia.
“The momentum around renewable energy in Nova Scotia continues to build and the collaboration and considerable effort of the applicants is commendable and underscores the resourcefulness and the talents of our people in the province,” the minister said.
The second set of projects to receive approval under the province's Community Feed-In Tariff are the Halifax Regional Water Commission, the Town of New Glasgow, Celtic Current for a project near Mulgrave and Bowater Mersey. The Queens County paper mill is going to take steam that runs through a pipe between its power plant in Brooklyn and its mill, and convert some of it into energy which will then be sold to Nova Scotia Power.
James Campbell, spokesman for the Halifax Regional Water Commission, said the Lake Major project will include five turbines that each generate 2.3 megawatts of power to be sold to NSPI. The approval means the commission can now erect a couple of meteorological towers to gather detailed wind data over the next couple of years.
The utility's energy costs run at $6 million a year. Campbell said the turbines are expected to pay for themselves in 11 years and then generate a profit. The commission is also applying under the COMFIT program to put two turbines in Lake Pockwock and one at a second smaller Lake Major site.
The Town of New Glasgow plans to build one turbine in Forbes Lake, Pictou County, that will produce 50 kilowatts of energy, while Celtic Current will build a 1.99 megawatt project near Mulgrave, in partnership with Zutphen Wind of Cape Breton.
Parker said these announcements mean more communities will be able to enjoy the benefits clean, renewable electricity that's generated in their own backyards, encouraging jobs and economic opportunities for each region.
“Together, these applicants represent strong, community-based collaborations and significant community ownership,” he said.
The COMFIT program gives eligible groups an established price per kilowatt hour for projects that turn renewable resources such as wind, the forests and tides into electricity. Parker said it will help the province meet its target of 25 per cent renewable electricity by 2015 and 40 per cent by 2020, which would equate to 100 megwatts power.
Parker said these projects are being developed against the backdrop of ever-escalating coal costs.
“We see that every time we open our power bill. This program can shield us from the rising cost of coal because it provides communities with the opportunity to generate some of their own energy and at a fixed cost over the next 20 years.”
The applicants that received approval today must now secure financing, consult with their communities, do more detailed wind tests, ensure Nova Scotia Power will buy its power and carry out environmental assessments.
Parker said his department is still accepting applications and narrowing down the next group of approvals, to be announced “over the next few weeks”.
The Municipality of Chester received approval in December to build a wind turbine at its Kaizer Meadow facility, something it had decided a couple of years earlier that it wanted to do, so much of the legwork was already done.
He credited municipal councillors with having the foresight to focus on green energy as a money-maker. “You have to believe in it yourself or else it isn't going to happen,” Webber said.
He said, “It's pretty gratifying that the program just happened to come along at the time that we happened to have our data all in place. That's why we were the first approved in Nova Scotia, because we were ready.”
Construction of Chester's turbine will begin this fall, and it should be operational by the end of January 2013.
February 7, 2012 - from www.thechronicleherald.ca
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
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