Welcome Welcome to our Open House for the Kent Hills Wind Farm Expansion Please visit our displays providing information on this proposed expansion to New Brunswick s first wind farm. We have staff available to answer any of your questions or to discuss any of your interests. This is an opportunity to provide your input and we welcome any and all comments you might have. Enjoy!
Who is TransAlta Wind? TransAlta Wind is part of TransAlta Corp. Highly contracted power generation and wholesale marketing company 50 facilities owned and operated, producing electricity to power approximately 7 million homes Publicly traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges Own and operate wind farms, including the Kent Hills Wind Farm, New Brunswick s first. TransAlta Wind was once Vision Quest Windelectric, but became part of TransAlta in 2002 A Canadian leader in wind energy, with approximately 250 wind turbines installed and growing!
Wind Turbines Blades Nacelle Wind turbine technology has dramatically improved over the last 10-15 years. This Wind Farm will have the new Vestas V90 wind turbine. Each wind turbine will have rotor blades that are 45 m long, connected to a hub on the nacelle, which will be on top of an 80 m tall steel tower. Tower 1. Oil cooler 2. Water cooler for generator 3. High voltage transformer 4. Ultrasonic wind sensors 5. VMP-Top controller with converter 6. Service crane 7. Generator 8. Composite disc coupling 9. Yaw gears 10. Gearbox 11. Mechanical disc brake 12. Machine foundation 13. Blade bearing 14. Blade hub 15. Blade 16. Pitch cylinder 17. Hub controller
Project Description Legend Expansion Study Area Existing Wind Turbine Proposed Wind Turbine " Building The Kent Hills Wind Farm Expansion will be located on Crown Lands within Albert County, New Brunswick, expanding the existing Kent Hills Wind Farm. Prosser Brook Road The land is forested and subject to logging, with an existing network of bush roads and clearcuts. Once constructed, the wind farm expansion will have little effect on the land as the footprint of each wind turbine is very small. Fundy National Park 0 1 2 4 Kilometers Alma Fredericton!( Saint JohnLancaster!(!(!( Miramichi 0 25 50 100 Kilometers Moncton!( Riverside Albert Dartmouth Halifax!(!( Charlottetown!( The Kent Hills Wind Farm Expansion will consist of 18 Vestas V-90 wind turbines and ancillary facilities. Each wind turbine has a nameplate capacity of 3 MW, for a total of 54 MW, which would bring the entire Kent Hills Wind Farm up to a total size of 150 MW. The turbines will be on towers 80 m in height, connected electrically to the existing Kent Hills substation using a combination of underground and overhead power lines. No new transmission line is required for this expansion. Much of the second phase of the Kent Hills Wind Farm was assessed as part of the original EIA, but there are an additional 9 potential turbine sites, within the original project study area, that need to be assessed for an EIA.
Project Layout
Project Timelines Based on our present schedule for project development, the basic timeline for the following two years is as follows. Draft EIA Registration Spring-Summer 2009 EIA Review Summer 2009 EIA Determination Summer-Fall 2009 Construction Fall 2009 - Fall 2010 Project In Service Late 2010 - Early 2011
EIA Process The Project is subject to the New Brunswick Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation - Clean Environment Act and as such requires an environmental impact assessment registration. The purpose of the Environmental Impact Assessment is to identify potential bio-physical and socio-cultural effects associated with the project before construction and recommend mitigation measures. What is being assessed in the EIA? Wildlife (including birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians) Terrestrial Vegetation and Wetlands Planned Land Use Aesthetics Safety Water Quality (surface and groundwater) Aquatic Environment (including fish and fish habitat) Cultural and Heritage Resources Recreation and Tourism Noise Local Community Current Use of Land and Resources for Traditional Purposes
Wildlife and Habitat Research on the flora and fauna of the Kent Hills Wind Farm Expansion has been conducted by Jacques Whitford Stantec Consultants. These are some of their results. Bird Migration: 56 species recorded in fall. 100% of individuals detected within 40 m of ground. 4 raptors total, low number of birds indicates location is not a major fall migration route for raptors. Generally low flock size, area does not appear to be a major migration route. Species of Conservation Concern: Single sightings of Canada Warbler (At Risk) and Red-tailed Hawk (Sensitive) were observed during migration. Rare Plants and Wetland Surveys Field work and constraints mapping has assisted with wetland avoidance. No rare plants were identified during the 2008 rare plant survey and only five plant species were noted during this survey that were not recorded in terrestrial surveys conducted previously in the area in support of Phase 1. One wetland area cannot be avoided by an access road. Constraints mapping and field surveys allowed turbine and road placement to avoid all other identified wetlands.
Field Programs Field studies are aimed at characterizing the natural and social-economic environment of the Primary Study Area. In addition to those studies conducted for the Kent Hills Wind Farm, field studies that have been completed for the Expansion include: Fall bird migration surveys; Late summer rare plant survey Wetland delineations, and Heritage Resources Impact Assessment. Additional field studies planned for Spring 2009 include: Spring bird migration surveys and Supplemental Breeding Bird Surveys consisting of point counts and area searches.
Visual Landscape As part of our pre-development work, we look at how our project may be viewed by residents and visitors alike, and model views of the project before we even begin installing wind turbine towers! We use visual photomontage software to simulate the look of the turbines on the landscape. You can see examples of these photomontages for this project on the nearby laptop computer. Turbines are painted an off-white colour, which has been found to be the least intrusive colour under the widest variety of light conditions. Transport Canada requires that wind turbines be lit for aircraft safety, and we do so following lighting plans that produce the minimum impact from day and nighttime lighting. The turbines will be seen from different views, but it is interesting how the regional topography can greatly affect one s ability to see them.
Typical Sound Levels Wind turbines are fairly quiet machines, especially compared to other activities. Acceptable sound levels are usually measured in decibels (db) that are A- weighted (meaning that it approximates human hearing). We design the project layout so as to meet provincial acceptable levels, which are in the range of what one would expect to measure in a quiet bedroom.
Predicted Sound As wind speed increases, sound produced by the wind turbines increases. To meet guidelines, we design the project so as to meet acceptable sound levels even at higher wind speeds. This map shows the predicted sound levels produced by the wind turbines when the wind speed is 8 m/s. As wind speed increases so does the sound of the wind itself, which additionally masks the turbines sound.
Community Benefits Wind power is a clean and renewable source of electricity that has multiple benefits for the communities in which they are located, including: Employment opportunities during project construction Employment opportunities for continued operations and maintenance Increase in the purchase of local goods and services Significant additional tax base for the community
New Brunswick s First Wind Farm The Kent Hills Wind Farm was commissioned on December 31, 2008, and became New Brunswick s first wind farm. The project is up and running, with 32 wind turbines, each with a nameplate capacity of 3 MW. TransAlta Wind is proud of the success of this project, brought about by a lot of hard work and the development of great relationships with the many important people who expressed an interest in the project. The project team found it a rewarding experience to develop a project with such warm and welcoming support from the many stakeholders at the provincial and local levels, and it s not hard to understand why the same development team wants to continue this work in New Brunswick.
Thank You Thank you for visiting our Open House. Please take the time to tell us what you think of the project using the comment sheets provided. If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact us using the information found in our handout materials. We are happy to be your neighbour, and we look forward to future opportunities to meet you again.