While the Otter Creek Wind Farm group is proposing fewer wind turbines for their project planned for north of Wallaceburg, the turbines will be taller than any others currently installed in Chatham-Kent.
Otter Creek officials say they are proposing to install the Enercon E-141 turbine, which has a nominal power rating of up to 4.2 MW. The turbines will each have three 66.7 metre (219 feet) blades with a hub height of 129 metres (423 feet) and a rotor diameter of 141 metres (463 feet). The concrete foundation may be up to 30 metres (98 feet) in diameter.
Adam Rosso, director of project development for the Otter Creek Wind Farm project, said they listened to feedback from the public to reduce the visual impact of the turbines.
“The reason why these turbines are a little bit higher and a little bit wider in diameter, is to effectively reduce the number of turbines,” Rosso said.
A total of 17-20 turbines were originally proposed for the project, but now only 12 are being proposed.
“To reduce the visual impacts, reduce all of the impacts,” Rosso said.
“Mitigation impacts, noise impacts. These turbines we are installing are cutting edge. They are the newest turbines out there. Produced by a tier one manufacturer.”
Rosso added: “A good example is the North Kent site. The North Kent site is just south of us. They are using 113 metre rotor turbines, 99.5 metre hub height. So that is a 3.2 MW machine. We are 4.2 MW, so that way we are able to reduce the number of turbines.
Rosso said the higher the turbine, the more efficient it can be.
“The concept is that the higher you go, the more smooth-flowing wind they get, the more efficient you’re actually be able to produce electricity at that height,” he said.
The larger turbines would not be louder either, Rosso said.
“That’s the beautiful part about the turbine,” he said.
“The way that the aerodynamics work with the turbine, I think they also rotate slower as well, so they have got less rotational speed and less noise.
The larger turbines will require a bigger foundation under the ground with more concrete.
However, the foundation design has yet to be finalized.
“This is something that people that have expressed concerns with the water wells have brought up is the use of pile foundations,” Rosso said.
“We are working with Enercon to try and identify alternates to pile foundations and that is ongoing. So we haven’t finalized the foundation design but… ultimately a bigger machine will necessitate bigger foundations.”
Rosso said the turbines would be delivered in sections to the construction sites as well.
“It’s actually easier to move,” he said.
“It’s smaller sections of essentially half circles that get transported on a flatbed truck to the foundation pad. Then they are clamped together and then stacked. These blades are two pieces. The pieces will be shorter.”
Rosso added: “These are originally German turbines. German roads are a lot smaller than our roads in certain sections and they install these turbines in rural Germany. They have different transporting techniques too but the idea is to have a two piece blade.”
The REA application to the province of Ontario is set to be submitted shortly, and an approval is anticipated to be announced by the fall of this year.
If approved, construction would start next year and the project would be operational by 2019.
Project background
Renewable Energy Systems Canada Inc. (RES) and its partner Boralex Inc. announced in a press release last March that they have been selected by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and awarded a contract for the 50 MW Otter Creek Wind Farm Project.
The companies also obtained the support of Walpole Island First Nation for the project.
The First Nation reserve is slated to have a 10.5% ownership stake in the project.
RES will own 51%, while Boralex will own 38.5%.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has been granted an option to participate in the project up to 15% of the limited partnership interests following commercial operation.
The project is to be located all within Chatham-Kent, just north of Wallaceburg.
The project would generally be bounded by Stewart Line and McCreary Line to the south, Whitebread Line and Kent Line west of Mandaumin Road to the north, Mandaumin Road to the east, and Payne Road to the west.
The project would be situated on private lands in Chatham-Kent and is targeted to reach commercial operation by the end of 2019.
