Company wants more wind power

AMHERST - An Ontario company is planning to invest $200 million in the expansion of two separate wind farm projects in Cumberland County.

Springhill Riverhurst Wind Power Ltd., represented by 3G Energy Corp., is holding a pair of public meetings in Rodney and Westchester next week to discuss the addition of 72 turbines between the two locations before 2010.

"There are other areas of the province but we like these ones," 3G Energy Corp. vice-president operations Graham Findlay said Thursday. "If you're going to build a large wind farm you have to do it in a place that's not going to react to it and Cumberland County is an area that needs the economic development and is compatible to wind farm development."

The Rodney meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 1, at the Rodney Hall while the other open house is set for Thursday, Aug. 2, at the Westchester Hall. Both meetings run from 4 to 8 p.m.

The initiative hinges on whether the company is a successful bidder for a Nova Scotia Power request for proposals for 130 mw of wind energy.

Findlay said the company looked at its Rodney operation and determined it could expand by six turbines, or 10 mw, while he feels Higgins Mountain could be expanded by 100 mw or 66 turbines. There are presently two turbines at Rodney near Springhill and three at Higgins Mountain.

Both sites were selected because of their proximity to transmission sources, good wind conditions and in the case of Higgins Mountain its remoteness.

The company plans to submit its bid to Nova Scotia Power by the end of next month and expects to hear if it's successful in November. If successful, construction would begin next summer with completion of Rodney by 2009 and Higgins Mountain by late 2009 or early 2010.

"We now think of sites not just because of how good the wind but with how compatible the use is with other uses and in Higgins Mountain is quite exception because there are so few people up there that would be affected by having a turbine nearby," Findlay said. "It's a more sensitive way to develop these things."