NEWS

Wind firm airs its vision for Mt. Hays

Daily News (Prince Rupert)

June 8, 2006

With 45 days of data in hand, the five-man crew at Katabatic Power are all smiles about a proposed $48 million wind power project on Mount Hays.

"Wind data is what wind companies have, it's their secret sauce if you will, so we don't like to talk about it too much," said Tony Duggleby, Katabatic's chief executive officer. "But I will say that Mount Hays is a really good wind site and that we're very happy."

After installing a 60-metre test mast between the Medallion Paging and Telus tower's back in April, Katabatic returned this week to check out the site and begin building a visual viewscape to show people what the proposed project of 14 wind turbines would look like.

"We have three years of B.C. Hydro data, so with this test tower we're not actually after whether or not it's a good wind site," he said. "What we're actually after is what's called the shear values, which are the differential between the surface wind, and the wind at different heights."

Duggleby explained that if the air is turbulent, there isn't as much power generation, so the company needs to know the difference in speed between the surface wind that is being interrupted, topography and the wind above the surface.

The company will continue to collect that data during the summer and the fall while working on environmental assessments, holding public meetings and consulting with both city officials and First Nations.

"Our job right now is really to basically be here and be available for answering questions," he said.

"We've had some very serious concerns from people about how this is going to impact the local community and it's good those questions are being asked. I think we've been able to satisfy most people about things like noise, which is going to be negligible and the viewscape.

"The general consensus we get from people we talk to in Prince Rupert is 'bring it on, let's get some development and let's get some work happening.'"

Whether the project moves forward depends on support from people locally and whether the company is selected as an independent power producer by B.C. Hydro.

Hydro is expected to release its decision around Aug. 4.

"We need to be able to sell to B.C. Hydro, especially out here. We can't get really get to the border to sell it anywhere else," said Duggleby.

"B.C. Hydro needs the power, and they're mandated by the government now to buy the energy they require from independent power producers.

"We're pretty happy where we're at. We think we've got a pretty good shot at this."

Currently, B.C. Hydro imports 12 per cent of its total energy load from Alberta and Washington and the province has no control over how that power is produced.

"We like to think of ourselves as a hydro based system, but we are using more and more energy from systems that are based on things like coal," he said. "There's a no-cost solution at this point to climate change. B.C. has one of the best wind regimes on the planet and we can take all of our new energy from the balance between wind and the dams.

"Whether you believe in climate change or not, if you can do something really simple that doesn't cost you anything and it works to cure the potential problem, why wouldn't you?"

It's projects like these that Green Party leader Adriane Carr said she hoped to see more of while in Prince Rupert last week.

"The Green Party believes in development that's environmentally and socially balanced as well as economically profitable," said Carr.

"Drilling out the oil and gas reserves that we have in Canada to ship them to energy hungry Asia is not the way to go, it's not sustainable.

"You are making short-term wealth and causing climate change and depriving future generations of that wealth.

"We'd be much smarter to not fast-track exports of oil and gas, to hang on to it and use it more prudently over the longer term. I mean, price is only going to rise, there's only going to be more and more of a demand and shortage of supply."