Wolfe Island is proposed as future home to 86 windmills

WOLFE ISLAND, ONTARIO - Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., a Calgary-based renewable energy company, has secured funding to construct 86 wind turbines on the west side of Wolfe Island. The $410 million project, which would supply 537,000 megawatt hours of green power annually, is expected to be completed in October 2008.

Energy generated by the 2.3 megawatt turbines will be transmitted about four miles via underwater cable to a major substation in Kingston, Ontario, company Chief Executive Officer John D. Keating said.

Mr. Keating said the 295-foot turbines will produce enough power to supply the 1,300 year-round residents of Wolfe Island and more than 75,000 Ontario residences.

In January, the energy company acquired Canadian Renewable Energy Corp., Ontario, which had studied a potential Wolfe Island project for four years. Canadian Hydro recently finished raising equity for its Ontario projects, which include a wind project in Melancthon Township and a hydroelectric plant in Island Falls.

The Wolfe Island project awaits lengthy environmental approvals, Mr. Keating said, before construction can begin in spring 2007.

The chief executive said the Wolfe Island community "very much supports the project."

He added, "Renewable energy products generally improve the economic vitality of the rural community. Our policy at Canadian Hydro is to locate new projects in communities that are highly supportive."

The company arranged long-term lease arrangements with several dozen landowners, wherein the owner would receive a portion of revenue generated by the turbine. Setbacks are being negotiated by Canadian Hydro; a similar project in Shelburne, Ontario required the turbines to be placed approximately 492 feet from roads and 1,312 feet from residences.

Mr. Keating said the noise generated by the turbines won't negatively affect residents or tourists.

"If you stand right at the base, you and I can have a conversation just like this," he said in a telephone interview, estimating the turbines' sounds at about 45 decibels each.

Mr. Keating said his company was also cognizant of the turbines' impact on migratory birds.

"We've done an awful lot of study and we're very careful on where we located the machine so we're not taking down any forests or disturbing the migratory pathways for birds," he said.

When constructed, Mr. Keating said, the turbines may be visible from the Cape Vincent ferry hub, one mile south of the Ontario island.

He said there's also potential, when the projects are completed, for a high-voltage interconnection point between eastern Ontario and New York state, similar to one between Toronto and Niagara Falls.

In the past five years, Mr. Keating said, Canadian Hydro has invested $300 million in low-impact renewable energy. It intends to spend $700 million more in the next three years, he said.

The company was started 15 years ago by Mr. Keating and his brother, J. Ross Keating.