HARMONY - A proposed wind farm for the Harmony/Camden area will not be proceeding.
Instead, the two turbines proposed for that area will be co-located with three other turbines planned for Millbrook.
"Now, that project in Harmony/Camden will not proceed," said Millbrook First Nations Chief Robert Gloade.
Hayley Thomas, spokesperson for a community group that had been vocally opposed to the project that would have seen two 4.4 megawatt turbines erected in the area, said she was pleasantly surprised to learn that the application had been pulled.
"With this news, the Harmony/Camden community is relieved that they will not be exposed to the negative impacts of industrial turbines in the foreseeable future," she said.
"With the constant approvals coming forward via COMFIT (community feed-in tariff program), I think we're all quite surprised by this news."
The Friends of Harmony/Camden had come out in force for several Colchester County council meetings and had been vocal in the media over concerns over noise, decreased property values and where the proposed turbines would be sited.
And while the task of stopping the project seemed daunting at times, she said the community was adamant that it not proceed without guarantees that residential rights would be protected.
"From my own perspective, there has been many times since we first learned of the development (in early June) that I have felt we had very little chance," she said. "Going up against a mutli-million dollar project is a very daunting task. However, throughout it all the community has had one common thread that has kept us motivated - 'passion.'"
The project had been proposed by a partnership involving Community Wind Farms of Mahone Bay, the Eskasoni Corporate Division and the German-owned company, juwi Wind Canada.
One of the stipulations for Comfit approval, however, is that wind projects must receive a buy-in from the communities being affected.
Millbrook had already been approved for a 6.6 megawatt wind project involving three turbines and Gloade said when he heard of the difficulties the Eskasoni project was having with community dissent, he initiated discussion between all parties which resulted in the co-location agreement.
"Otherwise, Eskasoni's project would not have gone through," Gloade said. "And by doing that, was able for us to look at the ability to co-locate them, work something out and be able to move forward."
The move will actually also mean cost savings for both projects, Gloade said.
"It also makes it a lot more affordable and cost effective," he said. "By co-locating the two projects is also a benefit to Millbrook and to Eskasoni because now a lot of those costs that would have had to have occurred at both separate locations, a lot of them don't have to be duplicated."
Once final approval is received, both projects now are expected to go online in 2014.
