Re: Addington Highlands Wind Project

Mar 25, 2015

Addington Highlands council (Addington Highlands Council, Mar 19/15) is wise to take a go-slow response in respect to NextEra Energy's effort to gain support for a huge wind power project that will see 100 turbines blotting the local landscape. Those turbines will each need as much as 400 tons of cement to secure them, will tower 400 to 450 feet high and generate intermittent unreliable power which Ontario ratepayers will be forced to subsidize for 20 years. Those turbines will surely kill birds, bats and other animal life. The audible and infrasound noise may also affect a small portion of the local population creating health problems! Property values may be effected.

The prospect of a portion of the Florida-based NextEra's revenue going to the township needs to be looked at carefully. The 200 MW capacity of the project will, on average generate power at about 30% of rated capacity and produce about 525,000 megawatt hours that will be fed to the Ontario grid. NextEra will be paid about $60 million for that annual production. A 20 year contract means $1.2 billion for the developer. So what is the township's portion of this?

Even though the capital cost of a wind turbine is approximately $1 million per MW, they are assessed at only $40 thousand per MW; this 200-MW proposed project would be assessed at only $4 million, when the actual capital cost is over $400 million. That $4 million assessment means the township will be entitled to only about $70,000 in annual realty taxes based on the current industrial rate. NextEra has also held out the carrot of a $350,000 “annual payment” to the township; that sounds impressive, but in the context of what NextEra will remove from electricity consumers' pockets, it's small change.

Over 20 years the township will receive $8.4 million ($350,000 + $70,000 X 20 years) which is equivalent to less than 1% of the revenue that NextEra will export to Florida.

Something for Addington's Council to consider.

- Parker Gallant, Bloomfield

Prince Edward County