Electricity is in the wind on Wolfe Island Farms

WOLFE ISLAND — Eastern Ontario’s first wind farm is weeks from construction, creating a buzz of excitement among farmers who stand to earn about $10,000 a year for each turbine on their land.

Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. will begin building 86 turbines on the west coast of the 29-km long island (population 1,200). Most of the lands chosen for turbines are home to a mix of beef, dairy and crop farms. "The neat thing about wind farms is that agriculture can continue all around," said Mike Jablonicky, the plant’s site supervisor. "Farmers can continue farming."

The $450 million Wolfe Island Wind Project, initiated almost eight years ago, is expected to be operating by March 31, 2009. Generated electricity will be pumped directly into the Ontario Power Authority grid paying out an average of 11 cents per watt. Plans are that the project will generate current to power 75,000 homes.

Farmers are either leasing their land to Canadian Hydro Developers or will receive a monthly percentage of the profit. "Farming has become quite difficult over the past few years," said Wolfe Island mayor Jim Vanden Hoek. "This is another source of income." Farmers will also have access to roads leading to the turbines.

Jason Pyke, a bison and cash crop farmer, says the added income will not only benefit farmers but the community, which has been losing farmers through retirement and is seeing many young people head to the cities. South of Kingston, the Island is only accessible by toll-free ferry and can double or triple in population in the summer. "The local municipality is going to get $7,500 per turbine," said Pyke. "Multiply that by 86, and it’s almost $650,000."

Canadian Hydro Developers will build four turbines on 400 acres of Pyke’s 1,700 acres. He says after the roads and turbine are built he will only lose up to one acre per turbine. On average, each farmer will earn about $10,000 per turbine leased on their land per year over 20 years.

Other farmers took an option of earning a portion of revenue from energy sold and signed a confidentiality agreement in which they can’t disclose the percentage. They are about 60 farms on Wolfe Island.

While this project is a first east of Toronto, there are 30 wind farms of at least 10 megawatts operating in Canada, including five in western and northern Ontario. The horizontal turbines will average 80 metres high, and resemble house fans with three blades. Each turbine will ideally produce 2.3 megawatts, and over the course of the year, the entire wind farm would produce 597,000 megawatt hours. The turbines cost about $2.3 million each.

Jablonicky says most wind farms are located in western and northern Canada but more will be built east of Toronto. Alistair Baird, economic development officer for agriculture in Renfrew County, says at least four wind companies are investigating Renfrew County for potential sites. Farmers involved in a feasibility study in Prescott County, east of Ottawa, recently concluded there isn’t enough wind there to attract wind farming developers.

"This is a huge undertaking," said Vanden Hoek. "The residents realize there are issues relevant to global warming. We want to do our part." Pyke is excited for plans to get underway. "We’ve been waiting eight years, since I optioned my land," he said.

Canadian Hydro Developers is an Alberta-based company. Founded in 1990, it now run seven wind farms, 12 hydroelectrical power sites, and one biomass plant in Canada.