The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 30Ontario
Bill French
Candidate for Nomination
Perth Wellington
PC Provincial Riding Association
Phone: 519-348-8749
Fax: 519-348-9309
Email: barldmfrenchC quadro.net
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26 THE RURAL VOICE
been experiments in community
ownership. But co-operative
ownership in power generation is a
well -proven model in Europe, says
the Scottish -born Fyfe.
When Paul Gipe, acting executive
director of Ontario Sustainable
Energy Association, spoke to a
meeting of 250 interested farmers
and others in Stratford in April, 2004,
he explained that Denmark produces
17 per cent of its electricity from
wind farms (now up to 28 per cent)
and a quarter of those are owned by
co-operatives. In Germany, he said,
200,000 homes own shares in small-
scale projects using large -capacity
turbines. In addition, electrical
generation from wind generates
80,000 jobs.
In Scotland, tourists come from
England to visit the windfarms,
creating new Bed & Breakfast
business, new restaurants, and a new
rural economy.
While the initial project for
Countryside will focus on
the Bervie area, results
from the Milverton site have been
promising enough that the co-op has
signed agreements with seven
landowners in the area north and
west of the town. The agreements
have been worked out in co-operation
with the landowners, Fyfe says. "We
want to be co-operative in spirit as
well as name."
Since there will likely be five or
six turbines, not all the landowners
will have one on their land. A sliding
agreement has' been worked out that
will pay a percentage of the revenue
from the development in relation to
the amount of land brought to the
table at the beginning. There will be
additional payments to those whose
land is used for access roads and for
those who end up with turbines on
their property.
"It allows landowners to feel
confident they'll get revenue," Fyfe
explains.
Those involved in the co-op have
been getting a crash course in the
practicalities "of creating electricity
from wind.
The reason the Lakeshore areas are
so popular with developers, says Fyfe
is that this area provides "smooth air"
with the wind coming across the
wide expanse of water with little to
cause interference and turbulence. In
addition, the on -shore breezes mean a