FORREST, Man. — With his body at 30 degrees from vertical, Dan Mazier leaned and pushed a rotating auger into the ground as he and two others drilled an anchor into the soil.
Mazier’s exertion wasn’t part of a construction project. Instead, they were drilling the anchor into the soil so that they could take down a 60 metre meteorological tower, which has stood 10 kilometres north of Brandon for more than two years.
Mazier and others erected the tower in 2009 to measure the frequency and strength of wind at the site so that they could evaluate its suitability for a wind turbine. Gathering the data was one of the first steps toward a wind initiative in the area known as the Elton Energy Co-operative.
Read Also
Manitoba searches for Plan B on canola oil exports
A new report explores Manitoba’s current canola oil trade and possible alternative markets to the U.S.
Mazier, who farms in the Rural Municipality of Elton and leads the co-operative, said the goal is to build a $7 million three megawatt wind project, which will be managed and controlled by local residents.
“A community power project is community owned,” Mazier said while taking a break from the tower deconstruction.
Power generated from turbines at the site would be sold to Manitoba Hydro, the province’s crown utility, and profits would remain in the community, he said.
Wind data from the site indicates that it is a “good but not great” location for energy generation, Mazier said, but the frequency and strength of the wind is typical for the Great Plains.
The co-operative must now find local investors and shareholders and hire a project manager to buy the propellers and the other materials needed to build two turbines.
Mazier said it’s possible Elton Energy might build just one turbine, but either way the goal is to generate three MW of power.
Financing the project might prove challenging, but a larger obstacle may be the Manitoba government and Manitoba Hydro, which is in the business of generating and selling power from hydroelectric dams.
“The reality is that Manitoba Hydro isn’t looking for any extra power,” Mazier said.
Nonetheless, he remains hopeful the province will eventually support projects such as Elton Energy.
In 2005, the Manitoba government announced plans to develop 1,000 MW of wind power, with 50 MW allocated to community wind projects.
“We’ve had different government officials and different Hydro officials say, ‘yeah, let’s explore this community power,’ ” he said.
Brian Murphy, Alberta policy manager for the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CANWEA), said rural and community owned energy projects are more likely to succeed when specific rules and regulations are in place.
“There are no specific programs that would support this sort of initiative in Manitoba right now,” he said.
In 2009, Ontario passed legislation creating a feed-in tariff system for renewable energy, in which power generated from wind, biogas, solar and other projects are paid at a higher rate than power that comes from coal and nuclear generating stations.
As well, Nova Scotia unveiled a feed-in tariff system this summer for small and community power generation. The province set a price of 45.2 cents per kWh for small wind projects less than 50 kW. Community wind projects larger than 50 kW will be paid 13.9 cents per kWh.
“At CANWEA, we would encourage Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba government to look at something along the lines of Nova Scotia … which would allow these small and community wind power initiatives to come on to the system,” Murphy said.
