The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 33Continued from page 27
energy output at mean wind speeds
than its predecessor.
There have been great advances in
turbine efficiency like this in the last
five or 10 years, Fyfe says. Those
advances, explained Gipe at the 2004
Stratford meeting, will allow Canada
to close the gap on European
countries that are far advanced in
wind power at this moment.
While some wind power
advocates were upset that the
provincial government's first round
of wind power contract set up a
"request for proposal" system that
meant that only large companies
could be involved, Fyfe is high in his
praise of the government's support
for a co-operative venture this time
around. Local MPPs John Wilkinson
(Perth -Middlesex) and Carol Mitchell
(Huron -Bruce) have been very
helpful, he says. Countryside's is the
first proposal of its type and as such
is a new animal for government,
Hydro One and regulators. The
amount of electricity that can be
generated at its Bervie wind farm, for
instance, will be determined by the
availability of capacity on Hydro
One's transmission lines from the
area.
The new standard offer system
is the kind of thing that Gipe
was advocating back in 2004
when he spoke at Stratford. He
estimated at the time that a one
megawatt turbine costing $1.5
million to install would pay for itself
in 10 years if the government would
guarantee 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
The current rate is 11 cents.
If the Financial Services
Commission of Ontario approves the
offering statement, it will be a busy
fall for Fyfe, Crawford and the rest
involved in the co-op. Here will be a
series of public meetings in larger
centres throughout the region plus a
number of kitchen meetings where
potential investors can ask questions.
Already Fyfe and Crawford have
made about 20 presentations which
resulted in the membership to date,
many of the connections coming
through the existing co-operative
network.
"We're very optimistic this will
work very well," he says. If so,
ordinary people will have a financial
stake in providing for the future
energy needs of their province.0
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