Weighing profits against transforming ‘beautiful country’ of wind-turbine proposal south of Brandon

BRANDON — A major wind-turbine project has been proposed for the Carroll area south of Brandon.

Innergex Renewable Energy has made preliminary agreements with landowners on roughly 12,000 acres and is looking to install 30 to 35 turbines.

The company is competing for the chance to supply Manitoba Hydro with 200 megawatts of Indigenous majority-owned wind energy. Hydro wants to add 600 megawatts before 2035 and issued a call for proposals in March for the first phase, leading to several wind-energy bids in southern Manitoba.

Innergex hosted a meeting at the Carroll Memorial Hall last week to inform residents about its proposal.

“The open house had good turnout and many attendees expressed appreciation for the opportunity to provide feedback, as well as interest in continuing to learn about the project,” Adeline Thames, the company’s senior development associate, wrote in an email Friday.

The turbines would be situated roughly 25 kilometres south of Brandon, on the west side of the Highway 10 and north of Highway 2. Innergex has been testing the area since last year.

The location was chosen for its strong wind resource, its ability to connect to one of the best 14 substations identified by Manitoba Hydro and the compatibility to use agricultural land around the turbines, among other things, Innergex wrote in a presentation to the RM of Oakland-Wawanesa council in April.

The turbines would be up to 125 metres high, with blades up to 80 metres long. Each turbine would use less than three acres of land.

Over its 30-year lifetime, the project is estimated to pay more than $20 million to landowners and more than $20 million in taxes to the municipalities of Oakland-Wawanesa and Souris-Glenwood.

If Manitoba Hydro chooses the proposal, the turbines would come online between 2030 and 2032, Innergex said. They would produce up to 200 megawatts of energy.

Innergex is partnering with Dakota Tipi First Nation and Fisher River Cree Nation on the proposal, which is called the Nohtin Kistikewin Wind Project.

Dakota Tipi Chief Dennis Pashe said the community would use the project to support education and other priorities.

“It would be an important source of revenue for our community,” said Pashe. “We are pretty well underfunded for most everything, specifically for kids going to school and university.”

Pashe said the First Nation would also want to secure employment opportunities.

Souris-Glenwood Mayor Duane Davison said there is a balance in deciding whether the project makes sense.

“It’s a huge, huge, huge decision, and its going to impact generations of people,” Davison said Friday. “Three hundred thousand (dollars) a year for a municipality our size is significant, but there is a cost to that in terms of aesthetic and visual appeal. There’s a lot that goes into that.”

So far, the municipality hasn’t made a commitment, he said.

“If they pick ours, then that’s when the tough decisions and the tough conversations have to happen, right?” Davison said. “We’d have to have some serious ratepayer consultation and we’d have to get down to what is everybody’s real opinion and are you prepared to live with a trade-off?”

Aging infrastructure, such as sewer and water pipes, would likely be replaced or repaired using the tax revenue if the community did go forward with the project, he said — but it would be difficult to justify transforming the “beautiful country” for money.

Like Davison, Dave Kreklewich, head of council for Oakland-Wawanesa, said responses are mixed in his community.

“A lot of people like them, a lot of people don’t like them,” Kreklewich said.

Concerns include noise, the construction of roads to service them and the effect on wildlife, he said. On the other hand, the project would pay landowners and could alleviate taxation and pay for special projects in the community, he said.

“This is going to come down to a choice by the citizens more than anything else” through public hearings and consultation, he said.

Oakland-Wawanesa resident Patricia Warburton said she doesn’t want to have a turbine anywhere near her, citing a number of concerns, including the ecosystem.

“I think environmentally speaking, we do everything we can to preserve the Brandon Hills area … and this will be detrimental,” Warburton said. “I think as stewards of the land, we have a responsibility. I want my grandchildren to be able to enjoy this one day.”

Warburton attended last week’s community information meeting and said the event was civil.

“There was some pushback, but very quiet, you know. We’re not a rowdy crew.”

Renewable Energy Systems and the Manitoba Métis Federation have proposed a turbine project for Polonia, north of Neepawa.

Manitoba Hydro is expected to announce the winning bid next year. Innergex has also submitted a proposal for a project near Swan Lake in partnership with Swan Lake First Nation in the RM of Lorne.

— Brandon Sun