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One More Step Toward Building Our Green Economy!
Harvest the Wind 2011 was a resounding success attracting over 100 participants involved in the wind energy sector from across Nova Scotia. This One-Day Wind Energy Workshop was held on April 29, 2011 at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre. It focused on providing information to people who are interested in installing wind turbines on their property or leasing land to wind developers, on a small, medium or large scale basis. The event also offered an opportunity for providers of goods and services in the renewable energy sector to talk to potential clients.
Among the many topics discussed were:
- Nova Scotia's pending Community Feed-in Tariff,
- the provincial renewable energy strategy, and
- the manufacturing side of the wind sector.
All of the speakers provided a wealth of relevant knowledge to landowners, businesses, in addition to municipal and community representatives. The event also included a renewable energy trade show to aid in providing locally available information and resources, which included representatives from Appleseed Energy, CBCL Ltd., Eastern District Planning Commission, Seaforth Energy and Sugen Research Inc. “It was great to see representatives from all spectrums of wind project development talking to eachother” noted John Beaton, Energy and Sustainability Consultant and partner organizer for the event. Beaton added “this is just the start of things to come as the regulatory playing field improves”.
The keynote speaker, Dr. David Swan, discussed the benefits of wind energy projects and showed evidence of the potential to launch a successful, community, energy project in our province. “Dr. David Swan of Colchester Cumberland Windfield engaged the audience in talking about the successes experienced in gaining community support for a project in Tatamagouche, using the Community Economic Development Investment Funds mechanism. Based on feedback, people got a good feeling for all that's involved in doing a successful community wind project”.
The event was sponsored by the Strait-Highlands RDA in cooperation with the Ecology Action Centre and the NS Department of Energy. The purpose of the event was to provide further education on a broad range of topics, related to wind energy, from available/pending projects and programs, the potential for job creation, and policies surrounding partaking in such projects. Harvest the Wind 2011 was very successful in accomplishing this task by meeting the informational needs of those who attended. There has also been significant feedback and response resulting from this event which is an even truer measure of the event’s success. We are hoping that we have provided participants with key information to getting their potential projects to the next step, including contact information for people to assist with the various stages of a wind energy project.
Blaine Gillis remarked on the event stating, “It was an excellent session that tied in the technical, financial, community, and development points of view to the audience.” He also went on to say that, “Hopefully the enthusiasm at the conference will translate into some realistic additional wind projects for the Strait-Highlands region.”
As the regional wind energy capacity increases we increase our diversity in the energy mix and reduce our dependence in imported fossil fuels. This helps to keep dollars circulating locally and improving opportunities for economic development.
Check out the HTW 2011 slideshow below to see how Nova Scotians are participating in one of the fastest growing sectors in North America!
Media Contact:
John Beaton
Strait-Highlands RDA
Phone: 1-800-546-3390 ext. 5.
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