Wind company and Ontario government appear to mock Renewable Energy Approvals process
Administrator | Dec 17, 2012 | Comments 15
An announcement by industrial wind developer WPD Canada, supported by the Ontario government, appears to make it clear to residents across Ontario that the regulatory process
currently in place for granting and appealing wind projects is a mere “rubber stamp” formality.
WPD has announced that it will be establishing a facility to construct more than 50 industrial wind
turbines. However, five of the six projects the facility is to supply have not been approved. In total,
only four (4) of the fifty two (52) turbines, or less than eight percent (8%) that the facility will
reportedly assemble and/or construct have been granted an approval.
Residents in these communities are deeply disturbed by what appears to be WPD’s, and in turn the
Ontario government’s, apparent willingness to publicly announce the facility long before the
regulatory review process and any subsequent appeals to the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal are complete.
In doing so, the government and wind company appear to have indicated that public consultation,
review by Ministry officials and the entire appeal process are likely meaningless, as both the wind
developer and government are sufficiently confident in the end result to announce the facility today.
What is now evident to many is that WPD and the Ontario Government appear to view the granting
of all approvals for these projects as a foregone conclusion.
-Eric K. Gillespie
Filed Under: Letters and Opinion
@Jon… and you are a massively contrived moron. The “puppet show” meeting included both WPD and REpower. Who gives a rats ass who you work or vote for? Your comment is horribly, obnoxiously ignorant regardless. Have you heard any of the incredibly arrogant, obtuse, puerile remarks regarding peoples concerns with wind turbines that have been offered up by Andreas Nauen, CEO of REpower? Yours are lame by comparison! There are folk here who will suffer much loss at the hands of these despicable, uncaring,greedy subsidized extortionists. This Industrial Wind Turbine renewable energy is little more than a ponzi scheme.
You guys are massively misinformed. It’s frustrating to see just pure ignorance and misinformation cause so much nonsense.
I am not a liberal and I do not work for WPD or Samsung or whatever.
WPD is NOT setting up any facilities to manufacture these turbines. WPD is a Developer. Developers do not manufacture turbines.
The turbine provider Repower is setting up the plant. And it’s not just exclusive to these projects.
Well Fed Up, so good of you to gloat… I’m sure the folks from the County Sustainability Group are celebrating…good on them… but know this… I’ve been kind and circumspect to this point… I have been saving the “big guns” knowing that this time would come… lock and load!
fed up, if there was doubt about the respect that you deserve based on your comments in the past, that doubt has now been removed.
Gilead has been approved. Suck on that.
@David Norman. Thanks for seeing the lighter side of Gotterdammerung. Even though Ontario’s Fuhrer has gone into his bunker, it seems his shock troops are still advancing. Vive la Resistance!
OMG Henri… now you’ve gone and done it. One mention of “blitzkrieg” and even their old ally Italy is praising their actions:
REpower si aggiudica contratto per 105 MW in Canada
La controllata del Gruppo Suzlon, REpower Systems, ha concluso un contratto con Wpd Europe GmbH per la consegna di 51 turbine eoliche MM92 da 2,05 MW destinati a sei progetti, Whittington, Springwood, White Pines, Napier, Sumac Ridge e Fairview, da costruire entro il 2014. L’accordo prevede il servizio e di manutenzione per un totale di 15 anni. Per rafforzare la propria presenza in Canada e per soddisfare il 50% degli obiettivi contenuti nel Green Energy Act, REpower ha anche annunciato l’apertura di un nuovo impianto di produzione ti turbine nel sud dell’Ontario. “Questo nuovo contratto mostra che la versione progettata appositamente per il clima freddo del nostro aerogeneratore MM92 è molto ben adatta alle condizioni del mercato eolico canadese – ha detto Andreas Nauen, CEO di REpower Systems SE – con il nostro annuncio della produzione di rotori in Ontario, stiamo espandendo la nostra presenza in Canada, un mercato del vento con un grande potenziale”.
They’re planning to “Mussolini” their way into the Ontario wind market!
@ Henri, note the word “über” in my German headline “Suzlon Gruppe erhält Auftrag über 105MW für Projekte in Kanada). Even some of you older codgers like myself likely have heard the hipster youngen’s express this as “über cool”. Looks like the Germany based WPD is going to give it to us “double über good”.
“suck on the great green treats”
David, I am still busting a gut on that one!
@ Henri… careful what you say!
Suzlon Gruppe erhält Auftrag über 105MW für Projekte in Kanada
– REpower und wpd europe GmbH schließen Vertrag über sechs Projekte in Ontario
– Bestellung von 51 REpower MM92 2,05-Megawatt-Turbinen
– Service- und Wartungsvertrag über 15 Jahre abgeschlossen
Die Suzlon-Tochter REpower Systems SE hat mit der wpd europe GmbH, einer Tochter des Projektentwicklers wpd AG, einen Vertrag über die Lieferung von insgesamt 51 Windenenergieanlagen geschlossen. Darüber hinaus schlossen die Unternehmen einen Service- und Wartungsvertrag (ISP) über insgesamt 15 Jahre.
Die Turbinen des Typs REpower MM92 mit einer Nennleistung von je 2,05 Megawatt (MW) sind für die sechs Projekte Whittington, Springwood, White Pines, Napier, Sumac Ridge und Fairview bestimmt, die 2014 errichtet und in Betrieb genommen werden.
Based on reports received, it appears that only one member of the media (an intern) showed up.
A search of Google News fails to reveal any media reporting of this (non-) event.
We don’t think that any government officials of significant seniority showed up.
It appears that attendance was limited to wind energy toadies and sycophants.
Garth… actually the impetus for this is more counter intuitive. The Liberal government of Ontario was aware of this WTO decision several days prior to the media pronouncement. This nefarious little escapade was created, with more than willing WPD dupes, precisely for this reason… to supposedly demonstrate that the wind industry, particularly foreign interests were still willing to comply with McGuinty’s local content edicts, voluntarily!… and why not, what do they stand to lose? WPD, like Samsung, simply get preference when they come to suck on the “great green teats” of ratepayer/taxpayer dollars.
It looks as if wpd stupidly jumped the gun. Two days later the World Trade Organization found Ontaro in breach of its international obligations in requiring a proportion of equipment and services under the Green Energy Act to be sourced within the Province. A commentator quoted in today’s Globe & Mail said “this blows out of the water a lot of the underpinnings of the ZGreen Energy Act”. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.
From wpd’s article elsewhere on the CountyLive site, scheduled speakers included representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation. Also, Minister of ED&I Brad Duguid (ironically pronouned Do-Good)was invited to speak.
The involvement of Ontario government officials is the best evidence to date that the Renewable Energy Application approvals process is a sham.
Besides representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the guest list for wpd’s press conference and celebration included Helmut Herold, Managing Director of REpower Systems Inc.; the German-Canadian Chamber of Industry and Commerce; and the German Ambassador, Mr. Werner Wnendt.
Is wpd’s announcement of a premature contract supposed to be the equivalent of blitzkrieg? Is the complicity of our own government intended to stifle dissent? Are County residents going to be intimidated by despicable developers?
Surely even supporters of wind energy cannot condone wpd’s brazen political manipulation.