July 28, 2005

Environment

New rules blowing in the wind

City wants regulations on windmill installations

PEGGY HILL

staff writer

The City of Toronto is pushing for clear guidelines on the construction of wind turbines.

Currently, there are no specific rules in the Planning Act concerning who can put them up, their height, the need for public consultation, or who owns the air rights, said Richard Morris, manager of the Energy Efficiency Office (EEO), and managing partner of its program Better Building Partnerships.

Richard Morris

He likened the situation to the days when people put up large antennas on their houses for their newly purchased televisions.

He wants guidelines in place as quickly as possible so that public and private investors “have something they can take to the bank.”

He is trying to avoid a scenario of investors getting financing, only to be told by the city they can’t do their planned project.

The guidelines would also give the community something to respond to, he said.

As a first step, consultation is ongoing between the EEO, Enwave Energy Corp. and Toronto Hydro.

Morris said his office is receiving a lot of inquiries regarding wind turbines.

In response, the EEO is considering using external consultants to conduct a broad study on all the potential sites across the city.

They would assess not only wind availability, but also the availability of sunshine for solar photovoltaics and solar water heating, as well as Planning Act issues pertaining to the locations.

In the short term, Morris is seeking quick guidelines for smaller projects, such as the proposed wind turbine for the John Street Pumping Station. A search is being done for a site, but it’s possible it would be constructed on John Street, near the Rogers Centre.

He said its purpose would be more of a symbolic demonstration than a practical power-generation project.

It would be one-fortieth or one-fiftieth the size of the wind turbine at Exhibition Place, which is 750 kilowatts. The Ex’s turbine had to be designated as a communications tower/recreation facility because a wind turbine didn’t fit any zoning land use designations.

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