The meeting set for Thursday at the Bras d’Or Community Hall follows the company’s submission of an environmental assessment to the Department of Environment on behalf of Wind4All Communities Inc. for the proposed wind farm.
“It is not really part of the environmental assessment,” said Amy Pellerine, development engineer for the company.
“It is mostly just to get a chance for the community to ask us questions if they do have questions regarding the environmental assessment. It’s basically just to present the results and present the work that we’ve done to the community surrounding the project.”
The letter sent to the Cape Breton Post to advise the newspaper of the meeting said the information session will provide the public with a better understanding of the studies that have been conducted to ensure the project will have negligible effects on the surrounding environment and communities.
The project has been met with some opposition, particularly from the Hillside Boularderie and Area Concerned Citizens Group, who have expressed concerns over the proximity of the turbines to homes as well as the visual impact the project will have on the community, frequencies given off by the turbines and the adverse effects on their way of life.
The community group hosted its own meeting in November featuring guest speaker Carmen Krogh, a retired pharmacist known for her research, peer reviewed articles and public information sessions on the health effects of industrial wind turbines.
Pellerine said the third local meeting for Natural Forces Inc. will discuss their company’s studies and information they have on what the project could mean for the community.
Those studies include bird and bat surveys and a Mi’kmaq ecological knowledge study.
“It is basically a big compilation in the environmental assessment. It can be pretty daunting to look at it so sometimes we just like to have a public meeting so if people want to come in and chat and see exactly what we did they are more than welcome.”
The information session on Thursday will take place at the Bras d’Or Community Hall, 24 Villa Dr. in Little Bras d’Or from 5-7:30 p.m.
The proposed Hillside Boularderie wind farm is a two turbine wind energy project to be located in the community of Hillside Boularderie bordering the community of Groves Point.
This project is being developed as part of the Nova Scotia Community Feed-In Tariff program. The wind farm was registered with the province for environmental assessment, May 1.
The Department of the Environment will decide if the project can be granted conditional environmental assessment approval on or before June 20.
Natural Forces Wind Inc. formally Wind Prospect Inc. has been active in the Maritimes since 2008. They’ve developed multiple wind farms, including the Kent Hills wind farm in New Brunswick and the Fairmont wind farm in Antigonish which was recently energized in the fall of 2012.
2013年5月12日 星期日
2013年4月23日 星期二
Energy projects soar
News that South Africa registered investments valued around the $5.5bn (R50bn) mark in 2012 has generated some excitement, but people in the know are warning that it is still premature to pop the champagne.
There is a fear that a significant portion of this investment will leave the country unless more is done to facilitate localisation.
Certainly the government needs to do more to ensure that the ensuing renewable energy independent power producing programme yields better results, says businessman Ajay Lalu who is an executive of Black Lite Solar. Lalu is setting up a multibillion-rand solar panel manufacturing facility in the Eastern Cape.
This observation comes a week after a report by the Pew Charitable Trust think tank declared that SA had emerged as the fastest growing destination for renewable energy investment within the G20 nations.
The trust’s report noted that South Africa attracted $5.5bn worth of investments in renewable energy in 2012 and this placed the country in ninth position in the rankings of size of renewable energy investments. The report said about 80% ($4.3bn) of this investment was flowing into solar energy and $1.1bn into wind.
This comes after SA launched its renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) programme. The department of energy has licensed about 50 operators in two separate windows of a programme that will have five licensing windows and expected to draw investments of about R100bn at conclusion.
“We are facing the danger that a significant portion of this investment and especially in high value system items, like solar panels, wind turbines and inverters in the IPP programme will end up in foreign hands,” Lalu said.
This is despite the fact that the government has set a local participation target of 40% when it issues window two licences.
Lalu warned that a significant portion of this local participation target could be achieved via “non-core” or low value procurement items like civil works, advisors’ fees and environmental impact assessment studies.
“While this is fine we must be careful not to miss the high value items which will facilitate technology transfer and ensure development of a robust local renewable energy industry that is also able to support the continent,” Lalu said.
He said SA needed to focus on core areas like the production of solar panel wafers and inverters. “Unless you focus on such items you are unlikely to see meaningful localisation beyond 40%.”
“The government needs to be more proactive and braver in rolling out licences in the third, fourth and fifth windows.” He said the renewable energy IPP was a perfect platform for the government to advance its reindustrialisation programme, particularly the development of black industrialists.
There is a fear that a significant portion of this investment will leave the country unless more is done to facilitate localisation.
Certainly the government needs to do more to ensure that the ensuing renewable energy independent power producing programme yields better results, says businessman Ajay Lalu who is an executive of Black Lite Solar. Lalu is setting up a multibillion-rand solar panel manufacturing facility in the Eastern Cape.
This observation comes a week after a report by the Pew Charitable Trust think tank declared that SA had emerged as the fastest growing destination for renewable energy investment within the G20 nations.
The trust’s report noted that South Africa attracted $5.5bn worth of investments in renewable energy in 2012 and this placed the country in ninth position in the rankings of size of renewable energy investments. The report said about 80% ($4.3bn) of this investment was flowing into solar energy and $1.1bn into wind.
This comes after SA launched its renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) programme. The department of energy has licensed about 50 operators in two separate windows of a programme that will have five licensing windows and expected to draw investments of about R100bn at conclusion.
“We are facing the danger that a significant portion of this investment and especially in high value system items, like solar panels, wind turbines and inverters in the IPP programme will end up in foreign hands,” Lalu said.
This is despite the fact that the government has set a local participation target of 40% when it issues window two licences.
Lalu warned that a significant portion of this local participation target could be achieved via “non-core” or low value procurement items like civil works, advisors’ fees and environmental impact assessment studies.
“While this is fine we must be careful not to miss the high value items which will facilitate technology transfer and ensure development of a robust local renewable energy industry that is also able to support the continent,” Lalu said.
He said SA needed to focus on core areas like the production of solar panel wafers and inverters. “Unless you focus on such items you are unlikely to see meaningful localisation beyond 40%.”
“The government needs to be more proactive and braver in rolling out licences in the third, fourth and fifth windows.” He said the renewable energy IPP was a perfect platform for the government to advance its reindustrialisation programme, particularly the development of black industrialists.
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