MILLBROOK - A three-turbine wind farm project has been approved for Millbrook First Nations.
The six-megawatt wind project makes the Mi'kmaq band the first in the province to be approved under Nova Scotia's Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT) program.
"Nova Scotia's Mi'kmaq have long understood the powerful relationship between responsible stewardship of our natural resources and a community's economic and social well-being," Energy Minister Charlie Parker said during a Friday afternoon announcement at the Glooscap Heritage Centre in Millbrook.
Parker's words were reiterated by band Chief Lawrence Paul, who described the project as a natural fit for his community, which has embraced economic development opportunities such as the Millbrook Power Centre.
"Today's announcement will move our economic agenda forward once again," Paul said. "The investment today will have benefits for our community and all people of Nova Scotia for years to come. For too long our dependence on fossil fuels ... has harmed our environment. Today we are taking steps to respect the environment.
"Our culture is built around a profound respect for nature and a commitment to working together as a community. Renewable electricity is a 21st century expression of these values."
The project will see three turbines constructed that will generate a combined total of six megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 1,500 homes.
The optimistic plan is have the turbines operational sometime in 2013, although that could stretch into 2014, said a representative of Community Wind Farms, which is partnering in the project.
The turbines will be located about one kilometer off of reserve lands and each will have a setback of approximately 1.5 kilometres from any residence.
The project is expected to cost about $7 million and could generate upwards of 80 jobs during the construction process.
For Truro Bible Hill MLA Lenore Zann, who was also in attendance for the announcement, the band's involvement also speaks to the type of growing community commitments to renewable energy projects that are taking place throughout the province.
"This means that more communities across Nova Scotia and more non-profit groups really are showing their commitment to renewable clean alternative energy initiatives," she said, "which is to the benefit of their communities and I would say for the benefit of the province, our country and the world and Mother Nature."
The province is committed to having 25 per cent of energy needs provided through renewable sources by 2015 and and 40 per cent by 2020.
COMFIT provides eligible groups with an established price per kilowatt hour for projects producing electricity from renewable resources such as wind, biomass, in-stream tidal and run-of-the-river tidal developments.
The rate guaranteed to the band is 13.1 cents per kilowatt hours.
Because of the project's size, an environmental assessment, a Communities, Culture and Heritage Archaelogical Resource Impact Assessment and a Mi'kmaq Ecological Study must all be conducted, along with continued engagement with the surrounding community, before the project proceeds.
