The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
Written by SCOTT STANFIELD, Citizen staff
Friday, 12 September 2008
By the end of next year, B.C.’s first commercial windmill operation, currently under construction near Chetwynd, will generate enough power to supply 34,000 homes The wind howls near Chetwynd -- hard enough for a renewable energy company to want to build the first commercial wind farm in B.C.
When fully operational by the end of next year, EarthFirst Canada expects the Dokie wind energy project will be producing 144 megawatts of electricity, enough to power every home in Prince George for a year.
The Dokie farm is located 40 kilometres northwest of Chetwynd, adjacent to the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, B.C. Hydro's largest hydro-electric facility. The strategic location means the project has road and rail access, and an immediate connection to the provincial hydro grid.
"This is a very, very windy place," said Ron Percival, vice-chair of Earthfirst Canada, which has offices in Victoria and Calgary. "You need to have extreme wind in order to build a commercial wind project. The minimum amount of wind that is generally considered would be about seven metres per second (25 km/hr) on an annual average basis. That's enough wind to make you crazy."
The first eight turbines, which passed through Prince George by train in July, are expected to be generating electricity by the end of this year. An additional 40 turbines, each of which is rated at three megawatts, will be installed next year.
"These are the largest capacity wind turbines available in North America," Percival said. "They're absolute state-of-the-art machines. They're made in Denmark by a company by the name of Vestas."
To construct this giant windmill farm, the turbines first need to be lifted by crane and trucked into a staging area, onto which the turbine towers will be bolted. The towers will stand 80 metres high. Each turbine has four tower sections, which resemble a giant steel pipe.
Once operating, the towers will pick up a necel, which contains a generator and gear box. When electricity is generated, it will travel to a cable to a substation where it will connect with the provincial power grid.
The project is a $360-million investment by EarthFirst Canada, which has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with B.C. Hydro. Something like a mortgage on a home.
"Under the tax laws of Canada, we're allowed to flow through some investment on the first eight turbines under the income tax act directly to investors," Percival said. "They included renewable energy lately into the opportunity to do flow through investment, the same as the oil and gas sector."
The most substantial startup cost is the equipment -- which has to be robust to withstand heavy winds and long winters -- and the installation process.
"The wind industry has evolved substantially from the early days, where the turbines were quite small and freewheeling and they made a lot of noise, to these modern, sophisticated pieces of equipment," Percival said.
The company expects the first turbine to be installed and turning during the latter half of this month, and the first eight turbines to be generating electricity by the end of the year.
The farm should be fully up and running by the end of 2009. At that time, it will produce enough clean, renewable power to supply about 34,000 homes in B.C., according to B.C. Hydro's calculation.
"That would power a city of about 100,000 people, if you provide three persons to a typical home," Percival said.
There are about 100 people currently working at the site, mostly construction workers. EarthFirst Canada has also retained the services of Vestas, which will be responsible for maintaining and operating the turbines during the first few years. Vestas, in turn, is training people to run an operations and maintenance centre from Chetwynd when the farm is operating.
As well, Northern Lights College is in the process of developing a curriculum for training wind operations and maintenance technicians.
"I believe that's the first in British Columbia," said Percival, noting the college program will also serve the 100 megawatt Bear Mountain wind project being developed by Altagas in Dawson Creek.
Both projects are in keeping with the objectives of a provincial energy plan that intends to make B.C. energy self-sufficient by 2016. The plan also calls for a 33-per-cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
"I think B.C. needs about 30,000 gigawatt hours of power by 2016, about half targeted to come from conservation," said Percival, noting the other half is a "tremendous amount of power" that would collectively comprise about 100 Dokie wind projects.
"The benefit of wind, of course, is that it has no emissions, no exhaust. What could be better?"
The downside is environmental challenges, particularly concerning bird and bat populations. New research, for example, suggests tall wind turbines caused the deaths of hundreds of bats on wind farms near Pincher Creek in the Rocky Mountains of southwest Alberta. The study found most of the bats suffered respiratory injuries that were consistent with a drop in air pressure that occurs when they get close to turbine blades.
"That's why in B.C. we have the most stringent environmental regulations in North America," Percival said.
The Dokie wind project underwent an 18-month environmental assessment that involved First Nations, stakeholders and resource managers from all levels of government.
Percival said the company is fully aware of the potential for "negative interactions with avian wildlife.
"We took boat radar from the coast up to the top of Dokie Ridge (during migratory bird season). We looked at birds, we looked at mammals, we looked at rare plants, we looked at virtually everything in the environmental assessment. It's a huge process."
Along with having no emissions, Percival notes wind turbines are "compatible with grazing animals," and only displace wildlife during construction.
After the hammers and nails are put away, the company expects wildlife to repopulate the area once it returns to its natural, peaceful state.
"Wind power is a good thing, but it doesn't mean that it should go everywhere," Percival said. "The same with any type of development. It can bring a great benefit to the environment, but it does need to be looked at to make sure there won't be an unanticipated consequence. The biggest threat to wildlife is not wind power, it's climate change. Wind isn't the whole solution but it's part of the solution."
