Tossing Cares Into the Wind...

This month, 86 new wind turbines are starting to be set up on Wolfe Island, a large island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and eastern end of Lake Ontario. It is a windy spot and will make a great bit of green energy when the wind farm is up and running next spring.

The wind turbines are being shipped across to the island by special barge, rather than the Wolfe Island ferry. The structural pieces are massive and would leave no room for cars to cross for months. It is estimated that each of the 86 turbines will produce 2.3 megawatts of power, all together, enough to power 75,000 homes. The power generated by the wind farm will be sent through an underwater cable to a transformer station, and then on into the provincial transmission grid.

Producing energy by wind turbines is clean, no other source of turning the blades is used, just the wind. We can’t get much greener than that. The land owners will earn a percentage from the windmills on their property, and more electricity will be available for the growing energy needs. Wind farms are commonplace in other parts of the world, even in other parts of Canada, such as in Pincher Creek, Alberta.

Windmill energy is as old as time, yet seems fresh to us. It’s the old cliché all over again – everything old is new again.

Better to have giant windmills capturing the breeze to generate power than large coal-fired plants using up resources, don’t you think?