After traversing the skies over Gaspésie and eastern Quebec, the next wind towers will grow on farmland close to citizens and communities right in the heart of Quebec. The citizens of several regions are already going on the barricades.
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On June 6, the citizens of Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick overwhelmingly rejected the installation of wind turbines on their territory by the company Boralex by referendum. Only one of the five sectors agreed (with only four votes), which thwarts the project promoter, which, however, also has the municipalities of Sainte-Séraphine and Victoriaville in its project.
“But Sainte-Séraphine and Victoriaville never consulted their citizens. “The elected officials planted the wind turbines down their throats,” protests Jean Morin, a local cheesemaker who has been leading the fight to protect his region for several months.
Jean Morin Photo courtesy of Jean Morin
“We got a win, but it’s far from perfect. In the Warwick area alone, which said yes, there is talk of a dozen wind turbines 200 meters high (editor’s note: higher than Place Ville-Marie in Montreal) in a small area of about four square kilometers. We will destroy the landscape of this region,” he said.
Photo courtesy of the Fromagerie du Presbytère
He adds that the project has torn his community apart, dividing citizens into “for” and “against.” “It takes us back to the days of the famous masks and vaccines, or the Canadian-Scandinavian rivalry. Very intense polarizations, it’s pathetic…”
money flows
But it’s not all negative to see wind turbines popping up in your hometown. Fees are generous and can transform a municipality’s administrative budget.
“For a community like ours with 6-megawatt wind turbines, we’re talking about more than $37,000 per wind turbine. With 10 wind turbines, that would add $370,000 to the city coffers each year. In comparison, my budget is $850,000 a year!” explains Sylvain Laroche, Mayor of Grand-Saint-Esprit, at MRC Nicolet-Yamaska. His team is currently working to be ready for Hydro-Québec’s next tender.
Sylvain Laroche, Mayor of Grand-Saint-Esprit, at MRC Nicolet-Yamaska. Photo courtesy of Sylvain Laroche
The mayor adds that in addition to royalties to the city, farmers also get the same annual amount per wind turbine. Finally, the MRC will also receive a share of the profits generated from the sale of Kilowatts to Hydro-Québec by becoming a partner with the promoter.
“That’s a lot of money for a small community. You have to keep in mind that the costs for us are increasing, whether it’s the police, snow removal, garbage… So you have to look somewhere for sources of income,” he says.
Targeting the heart of Quebec
Last May, Innergex CEO Michel Letellier warned that the game would not be easy. “In the next tenders, we will have wind turbines near the houses. There will be people who are not happy, it’s inevitable,” he told the Journal on the sidelines of a conference.
The reason for this is that Hydro-Québec requires that the projects submitted under the next call for tenders be carried out in areas close to existing power plants (see “Areas with integration potential” on the attached map) in order to allow the connection of projects faster .
The Carleton-sur-Mer wind farm was built in a sparsely populated area of this town in Gaspésie. However, the days when wind turbines were mainly built in such locations in eastern Quebec are over, as this map shows.
“Today we have to develop in areas where there is not much wind, so the reaction of people is quite normal,” said Luc Leblanc, development manager at Innergex. “I come from Gaspésie and there we also had to do a lot of communication work 10 or 15 years ago. There was distrust. But today, municipalities receive up to $500,000 a year, double their previous budget. In eastern Quebec, communities and citizens know what a wind farm is and how much it pays,” he adds.
Archive photo
Innergex wants to build a wind farm in the MRC de Lotbinière. Here, too, voices are currently being raised against the project. “We met the population, the farmers and the stakeholders. Issues such as agricultural rights of way, noise, scenery, and economic benefits emerged. We continue our communication work. The more we inform people, the more we will be socially accepted,” he said.
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