The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 28OWNING
THE WIND
A new energ co-operative
seeks to give local residents a
chance to invest and earn
dividends from emerging
wind power
Story and photos
by Keith Roulston
So you've felt the wind blow off
Lake Huron and thought it
would be nice to harness it to
generate you own power. Still, you
worry your pockets aren't deep
enough' or maybe your electrical IQ
isn't high enough to run your own
generation plant. Come this fall you
may have a chance to invest in
generating part of your energy needs
without a huge investment in time or
effort.
Countryside Energy Co-operative
Inc. hopes to be selling memberships
and preferred shares for the
construction of a community -owned
wind farm at Bervie by fall, once
given government approval of its
offering statement.
The co-op, headed by Doug Fyfe,
general manager and Lloyd
Crawford, co-op development
manager, is an outgrowth of interest
by the Huron Business Development
Corporation and Perth Community
Futures Development Corporation to
develop a locally -owned wind farm.
Currently most of the wind farm
generation projects are owned by
large corporations from Alberta.
The two groups were behind the
erection of test towers near Milverton
24 THE RURAL VOICE
and Goderich in September 2004
with funding from Canadapt. In
planning for wind tower, it's
essential to have at least a year of
recorded data about the wind
strength, wind direction and air
temperature. By August 2005 the
group was happy enough with the
test results to form Countryside
Energy Co-operative Inc. The board
includes three farmers, headed by
president Bruce Schmidt of Walton„
along with Jaret Henhoeffer, General
Manager of Perth Community
Futures Development Corporation as
vice-president and Paul Nichol of
Huron Business Development
Corporation as secretary -treasurer.
The testing continued at the two
sites but meanwhile two brothers
who hoped to develop a wind farm
on their farm at Bervie contacted
them. The brothers had done their
own testing at the Bervie site but
weren't happy about dealing with
large commercial enterprises. When
they found out about the newly -
formed co-operative, they thought it
was the solution. Late in 2005 an
agreement was signed to use their
land as the first site for a co-
operative, community -owned
Co-operative scheme would make
wind another farm crop.
windfarm in Canada.
It's no small undertaking. Before
the five or six turbines needed for the
10 megawatt Bervie project can be
ordered, $6 million has to be raised
for a downpayment through sales of
preferred shares and borrowed
money. To make the job easier,
Countryside has joined with
Windshare, the Toronto co-operative
that built the landmark wind turbine
at the Canadian National Exhibition
grounds in Toronto. The two have
formed Lakewind Power Co-
operative Inc. and each will try to
raise half of the needed money,
probably $10 million in total. Each
will contribute two members to a
four -member management team.
Countryside submitted an offering
statement to the Financial Services
Commission of Ontario on June 30
and is hoping for approval by late
summer so a campaign can be
launched to sell memberships and
shares this fall.
Already there are about 70 people
who have paid the $250 membership
fee to belong to Countryside.
Members wil: then be eligible, once