College Installs Windmill in Ontario

The first commercial wind turbines in eastern Ontario has been installed on a campus of St Lawrence College along the St Lawrence River.

CORNWALL, Ontario, CA, 2001-10-29 [SolarAccess.com] The 40 kW turbine will generate electricity for the college’s 800-student campus in Cornwall. The college is built on land where a working windmill once stood, and the annual output is expected to be worth C$3,000 to $5,000. “It’s fitting that this Windmill Point site will once again be home to a windmill,” says Pat Finucan.”The college is thrilled to be the operator of this wind turbine, and we look forward to integrating its operation into our curriculum.” The turbine was installed by Ontario Power Generation, a company formed from the breakup of the provincial electric utility, Ontario Hydro. “This installation is part of OPG’s corporate commitment to utilizing and showcasing the viability of clean, renewable energy,” explains Murray Paterson. “Recently, we unveiled the largest wind turbine in North America, located in Pickering and are involved as partners in Huron Wind, Ontario’s first commercial windfarm near Kincardine.” Last winter, OPG created ‘OPG – Evergreen Energy’ as part of a five-year plan to quadruple its portfolio of renewable power to 500 MW by 2005. It currently has 138 MW of small hydroelectric, wind, solar and landfill gas projects in the province. The St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences is also involved in the project. The organization is involved in research on large river ecosystems, and the three groups will monitor the effectiveness of the turbine and explore the educational opportunities its provides. In late August, OPG commissioned the largest wind turbine in North America. The 1.8 MW Vestas unit is sited next to the nuclear reactor in Pickering and will generate sufficient electricity for 600 homes. “We expect renewable energy will play a growing role in Ontario once the market opens and customers can choose their suppliers,” said OPG’s chief operating officer Graham Brown at the ceremony. He said that renewable energy was not yet in a position to displace traditional forms of generation, such as nuclear, because of the intermittent nature of wind and solar. He predicted the turbine would generate some power two days out of three, and should run “flat out” 10 percent of the time. The other OPG wind project is a 600 kW turbines installed in 1995 at the Bruce nuclear reactor.