AMHERST – A $61-million wind project near Amherst celebrated another milestone on Tuesday with the arrival of the final tower pieces from DSTN in Trenton.
Premier Darrell Dexter and DSTN CEO Nam Ki Lee were in Amherst to mark the delivery of the final tower to Sprott Power’s 31.5-megawatt wind farm that’s expected to be generating electricity by late March or early April.
“This project represents the first step for our development (in Trenton) and I enjoyed being here today to see it completed,” Lee said while looking over the nine towers and turbines that have been erected. “This is a good foundation and good experience for us and a way for us to get our foot in the market.”
DSTN manufactured 15 towers for the Suzlon Wind EnergyCorporation, the wind turbine supplier for the Amherst wind project.
“As you drive into the province and see this project it certainly says a lot about the production of green energy in Nova Scotia. Visually it’s dramatic and a great image for the province in terms of our aspirations in terms of controlling our own destiny when it comes to energy,” the premier said.
“It’s important that we stay on track with respect to renewables and understanding over the long term this is going to be a big part of the future of this province.”
The premier said wind energy has a strong future in Nova Scotia with renewable power projects becoming a larger part of the energy landscape.
Dexter said green energy will also help generate more economic activity.
“It’s going to give us long-term stability in energy rates that will allow businesses to invest here knowing what their energy rates are going to look like over years,” Dexter said.
The province secured a 49 per cent stake in the operation through investments made in 2010 to establish DSTN as a joint venture at the former TrentonWorks site.
DSTN’s communication manager Brad Murray said the company didn’t plan to have nothing on the order books for its Trenton plant, but it did plan to take a few months to look at ways it can improve its operations.
The company announced last week it’s laying off 32 employees.
“If we were to receive an order today we would have to allow time for delivery of materials, such as steel. Our plans are to work on whatever projects we can right now while we prepare for the larger projects,” Murray said. “We’re hoping the layoff won’t be long-term. We’re going to be utilizing a lot of our own people for a lot of the upgrade.”
Sprott Power CEO Jeff Jenner said nine of the 15 turbines have been erected with the 10th ready to be lifted into place. He expects the substation to be energized and the project producing power in a few weeks.
“We’ve been very fortunate this year to have such a benign winter. Last year we had to plow just to get access to the site. This year we have been very lucky, or we would have been looking at some delays,” Jenner said.
Jenner said Sprott Power plans to be very active in wind energy in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It expects to make a submission to the next round of requests for expressions of interest and the province’s Comfit program that encourages wind development using community investment.
