There’s an article in the Toronto Star today by real-estate lawyer Bob Aaron about the impact of stupidly planned wind projects (or any electricity project for that matter) on nearby property values. A resident in Ontario complained that his property taxes were too high because the assessed value of his property didn’t take into account a noisy wind-farm substation located across the street. This resident, according to the case, was subject to a constant buzz or humming from the substation that exceeded what was acceptable under regulation. The provincial Assessment Review Board agreed with the homeowner and slashed his property assessment in half, arguing that the humming would indeed make it more difficult to sell the house and therefore its market value must be dramatically discounted. The property owner’s “successful appeal of his assessment is only the first of many similar cases that are certain to follow,” wrote Aaron. “The result, of course, will be a significant reduction in the tax base of municipalities like Amaranth, which play host to wind farms.”

Wind developers should take this case very seriously. And in this case, Canadian Hydro Developers — the wind developer in question — should have done a better job of siting the substation in an appropriate place. But let’s be clear: this isn’t about noise from wind turbines, this is about a substation that was built 360 metres away from a house. If noise measurements were properly done the developer should have known not to locate the substation so close to the home. Substations can be a particular nuisance, regardless of whether they’re associated with a wind farm, a solar farm or a natural gas plant, because they buzz 24-hours a day. Wind turbines, however, must now be sited 550 metres away from a home, they don’t make noise 24-hours a day, and on windy days when they operate at full tilt the background sound of the wind drowns out much of, if not all, of the noise. The key things to take away from this case is that decibels exceeded regulation, it had to do with a substation, and it had to do with a particular developer. It says nothing particular about wind farms, so for that reason, I disagree with Aaron on the decision’s potential impact on wind energy projects.

Before I start this post, I want to make one thing clear: an application alone is an expression of interest, not a finished project. With that said, it’s nonetheless encouraging to see the flood of applications come into the Ontario Power Authority’s renewable feed-in-tariff (FIT) program since its Oct. 1 launch. About 80 per cent of The applications, which if all of the projects are built amount to 8,000 megawatts, relate to amount to 80 per cent wind-energy capacity, while 16 per cent of total megawatts are for solar capacity and the rest a combination of biogas/biomass and small hydroelectric. Of the nearly 2,200 applications received, roughly 1,200 are for projects less than 10 kilowatts in size, mostly rooftop solar. Already, 700 of those applications have been approved. (See power authority backgrounder here).

This is a great start for a province that has only peaked above 27,000 megawatts in its history. And these results exclude the huge potential for large offshore wind projects in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, as well as some larger hydroelectric and pumped storage projects. Again, it’s easy to flag these applications and shout victory, but the hard work is ahead — getting these projects built and generating power for the grid, as well as getting the transmission built to accommodate them. At the moment, there’s only enough transmission capacity to accept about 2,500 megawatts, so shovel-ready projects in capacity-spare areas are being given top priority. If, however, we can get a majority of these projects online within the next few years that will be a major accomplishment as Ontario works toward its goal of phasing out coal power by 2014.

A seven-expert independent panel came out with a major study today that looks into the health impacts on people who live close to wind turbines, and they determined that what some call “wind turbine syndrome” does not exist and that, beyond annoyance, the swishing and low-frequency sounds that come from wind turbines don’t directly make people sick. But, of course, annoyance can lead to stress and stress can lead to loss of sleep, and … well you get the picture.

As the study concludes: “Annoyance is not a disease.”

The question then becomes: Do we outlaw annoying things that we can’t control? Well, we do have rules that keep airplanes from flying too close to residential areas, and which try to minimize street traffic and keep loud and obnoxious neighbours from disturbing the peace. Now, a neighbour who shares a wall with you and snores fiercely, well, can’t do much about that as annoying and stressful that can be for a light sleeper. Regarding wind turbines, we do have rules that require wind turbine noises to be within acceptable limits. Some may argue those acceptable limits aren’t acceptible at all, but clearly the line must be drawn somewhere after careful consideration of the evidence.

I have a story in the Toronto Star that hits on the key points of the study, which should be emphasized was funded by the American Wind Energy Association and Canadian Wind Energy Association. Two of the doctors/scientists who were part of the panel told me that the American wind association tried to get a government agency to sponsor the study but none felt obliged to do it, so the industry decided to be proactive and commissioned the study itself (at risk of the study’s independence being attacked). To add credibility to the study’s findings, the panel will be submitting it this year to several peer-reviewed journals for publication.

There is one portion of the study that, in my opinion, explains why some have become suspicious of wind turbines. It refers to symptoms like headaches, dizzyness, fatigue, sleeplessness, and ringing in the ears that those who complain of “wind turbine syndrome” say they have:

Yet these are all common symptoms in the general population and no evidence has been presented that such symptoms are more common in persons living near wind turbines. Nevertheless, the large volume of media coverage devoted to alleged adverse health effects of wind turbines understandably creates an anticipatory fear in some that they will experience adverse effects from wind turbines. Every person is suggestible to some degree. The resulting stress, fear and hypervigilance may exacerbate or even create problems which would not otherwise exist. In this way, anti-wind farm activists may be creating with their publiclity some of the problems that they describe.

Catch The Wind is making good on its Vindicator trial projects, including one wind-farm trial with the Nebraska Public Power District. The company said its laser wind sensor increased energy output on one turbine by an average of 12.3 per cent by allowing the blades and direction of the nacelle to be better aligned with oncoming wind and by being able to detect gusts in advance. You can read the full report here. Higher output means more revenues for the wind-farm operator. “We believe the incremental cash flows generated during the first 24 to 36 months are sufficient to payback the initial investment,” said president and CEO Phil Rogers. And that excludes any savings related to reduced maintenance over the life of the turbines.

The company has had some strong announcements recently, including a development partnership with Gamesa and a large trial with Canadian Hydro Developers, the largest wind operator in Canada.

I’ve always thought it was amusing how politicians in the U.S. and Canada talk about China as if it’s this backward nation that produces energy from nothing but coal, and how poor China needs help from the West to clean up its act. Uh, yeah, well, perhaps we’ll need help from China to clean up our act.

The Wall Street Journal has a good story here that puts the whole issue into perspective. It’s not that China doesn’t have its problems, and it could certainly benefit from some homegrown innovation, but there’s no question that China’s manufacturing might is beginning to expand into cleantech and the country is taking the economic opportunity — against the backdrop of climate change — very seriously. It should not be underestimated. Solar. Wind. Electric bikes. Electric cars. Batteries. Carbon capture. Watch out…