After traversing the skies over Gaspésie and japanese Quebec, the following wind towers will develop on farmland near residents and communities proper within the coronary heart of Quebec. The residents of a number of areas are already occurring the barricades.
• Additionally learn: Arthabaska Wind Undertaking: Residents of Sainte-Élizabeth are overwhelmingly opposed
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• Additionally learn: Wind Energy: Nicolet-Yamaska elected officers briefed in Montérégie
On June 6, the residents of Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick overwhelmingly rejected the set up of wind generators on their territory by the corporate Boralex by referendum. Solely one of many 5 sectors agreed (with solely 4 votes), which thwarts the undertaking promoter, which, nevertheless, additionally has the municipalities of Sainte-Séraphine and Victoriaville in its undertaking.
“However Sainte-Séraphine and Victoriaville by no means consulted their residents. “The elected officers planted the wind generators down their throats,” protests Jean Morin, an area cheesemaker who has been main the battle to guard his area for a number of months.
Jean Morin Picture courtesy of Jean Morin
“We acquired a win, however it’s removed from excellent. Within the Warwick space alone, which mentioned sure, there’s speak of a dozen wind generators 200 meters excessive (editor’s observe: larger than Place Ville-Marie in Montreal) in a small space of about 4 sq. kilometers. We are going to destroy the panorama of this area,” he mentioned.
Picture courtesy of the Fromagerie du Presbytère
He provides that the undertaking has torn his neighborhood aside, dividing residents into “for” and “towards.” “It takes us again to the times of the well-known masks and vaccines, or the Canadian-Scandinavian rivalry. Very intense polarizations, it’s pathetic…”
cash flows
But it surely’s not all damaging to see wind generators popping up in your hometown. Charges are beneficiant and might remodel a municipality’s administrative funds.
“For a neighborhood like ours with 6-megawatt wind generators, we’re speaking about greater than $37,000 per wind turbine. With 10 wind generators, that may add $370,000 to the town coffers every year. As compared, my funds is $850,000 a yr!” explains Sylvain Laroche, Mayor of Grand-Saint-Esprit, at MRC Nicolet-Yamaska. His staff is at the moment working to be prepared for Hydro-Québec’s subsequent tender.
Sylvain Laroche, Mayor of Grand-Saint-Esprit, at MRC Nicolet-Yamaska. Picture courtesy of Sylvain Laroche
The mayor provides that along with royalties to the town, farmers additionally get the identical annual quantity per wind turbine. Lastly, the MRC can even obtain a share of the earnings generated from the sale of Kilowatts to Hydro-Québec by turning into a companion with the promoter.
“That’s some huge cash for a small neighborhood. It’s important to understand that the prices for us are rising, whether or not it’s the police, snow elimination, rubbish… So you must look someplace for sources of earnings,” he says.
Focusing on the guts of Quebec
Final Might, Innergex CEO Michel Letellier warned that the sport wouldn’t be straightforward. “Within the subsequent tenders, we can have wind generators close to the homes. There will likely be people who find themselves not completely happy, it’s inevitable,” he advised the Journal on the sidelines of a convention.
The rationale for that is that Hydro-Québec requires that the initiatives submitted beneath the following name for tenders be carried out in areas near present energy vegetation (see “Areas with integration potential” on the connected map) with a purpose to permit the connection of initiatives sooner .
The Carleton-sur-Mer wind farm was inbuilt a sparsely populated space of this city in Gaspésie. Nevertheless, the times when wind generators have been primarily inbuilt such places in japanese Quebec are over, as this map reveals.
“At this time we now have to develop in areas the place there’s not a lot wind, so the response of individuals is kind of regular,” mentioned Luc Leblanc, growth supervisor at Innergex. “I come from Gaspésie and there we additionally needed to do a whole lot of communication work 10 or 15 years in the past. There was mistrust. However right now, municipalities obtain as much as $500,000 a yr, double their earlier funds. In japanese Quebec, communities and residents know what a wind farm is and the way a lot it pays,” he provides.
Archive photograph
Innergex desires to construct a wind farm within the MRC de Lotbinière. Right here, too, voices are at the moment being raised towards the undertaking. “We met the inhabitants, the farmers and the stakeholders. Points corresponding to agricultural rights of means, noise, surroundings, and financial advantages emerged. We proceed our communication work. The extra we inform folks, the extra we will likely be socially accepted,” he mentioned.
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