Findlay confident about turbine bid

Many have voiced their displeasure with wind farms being set up in this area, but 3G Energy Corp.s vice president of operations Graham Findlay said people shouldnt be so quick to judge.

"People think theyre in some way damaging by sending out sound," Findlay said Wednesday in Rodney. "Try them out. Get used to them. Hang around them. People will get used to them."

3G held public information sessions in Rodney on Wednesday and Westchester on Thursday to let locals know whats involved in their proposals for more wind turbines at their wind farms in Rodney and Higgins Mountain.

Findlay said cost analysis is still underway. If their proposals are accepted by Nova Scotia Power, the wind farms would be implemented by 2009.

"Its an economic puzzle. Weve resolved most of that now and were out to the contractors now trying to figure out what thats going to cost us by 2009, then we build that into our price and submit (to Nova Scotia Power) and hopefully we win," he said.

Findlay said Nova Scotia power is looking for 130 megawatts of renewable energy and with more than 2000 megawatts available to them through proposals from several different companies, competition is stiff.

At this point Findlay is quite confident in the Higgins Mountain bid.

"Im pretty positive about Higgins Mountain. We did our homework there, we know the wind is good. Nobody can complain about them there. Its so remote, theres nothing up there. Theres just people doing forestry work," he said. "Its just a great use of a natural resource, and we can collect enough to make a significant contribution to this province."

3Gs proposals are for six more wind turbines in Rodney and an additional 66 on Higgins Mountain. The Rodney proposal, if accepted, would produce 10 megawatts of energy, which can power 3000 homes. The Higgins Mountain proposal would create 100 megawatts of energy, enough to power 30,000 homes.

jdickie@amherstdaily.com