The Rural Voice, 2002-02, Page 17electricity and, if rent prices compare
with other countries, landowners
could be paid $20,000 to $30,000 a
year. Wind farms can stretch over
thousands of acres but farmers
usually lose only two per cent of
their production. The OFA's
proposed wind farm has yet to be
approved by the government.
In Alberta more than 85 wind
turbines dot the landscape, generating
electricity from the winds coming
across the foothills. These are not
personal windmills, but ones that
produce power for a number of
people.
High gas, prices and more
expensive fees from
deregulation have made
windmills an attractive source for
energy. Another 150 wind turbines
are being proposed for Alberta.
People have the option to build
their own energy source to provide
electricity. The Ontario government
has set up a committee to study all
forms of renewable energy such as
wind, water, solar and methane gas
from garbage dumps and other
sources. The recent federal budget
announced a 1.2 cents tax rebate for
every kilowatt hour for people using
wind power.
Kleinau decided that he would
need two sources of energy, the solar
panels during the day, and a wind
turbine, for night time energy, to
keep up with his electrical needs.
The solar panels and wind turbine
turn the sun's rays and wind into
energy which is stored in 6 volt
batteries. There is usually enough
energy to meet his demands,
however, he has to use energy
conservatively.
Kleinau compares the initial
investment of installing a wind
turbine, for which he took out a bank
loan of $10,000 to drilling a well or
building a septic system: it is
something that has to be paid up
front and then hopefully from then on
you don't have to pay for it.
"The (personal) electricity
generating station is a guaranteed
investment to pay back the moment it
starts working," Kleinau said.
The batteries, wind turbine and
solar panels Kleinau uses are all
guaranteed to work for several years.
But wind turbine builder Bob
Budd of the Goderich area spends
much of his time trying to prevent
people from building windmills for
economic reasons when people call
him trying to get a break on the
hydro bill. It isn't worth it, he said. It
costs more to build and install and
maintain the wind turbine than what
someone would pay for hydro from
the grid. (For more on Budd see
sidebar story on page 15.)
Currently in Ontario, the price of
energy is so low, at four to five cents
per kilowatt hour, that wind power
can not compete. In other areas
across the world, wind power is
highly subsided. For the last seven
years the United States has given a
tax credit double to the one Ottawa is
offering installing wind power
equipment. •
Alex Gulutzen, who lives in
East Wawanosh Township,
just west of Blyth, installed a
wind turbine above the trees
surrounding his property to avoid
cutting a large section of bush to
install hydro lines. When Gulutzen, a
naturalist, moved a trailer onto the
wooded acreage five years ago most
people told him to cut the trees and
create a path for the lines and pay the
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