Nicollet: Headwinds for wind turbine project

A wind farm development in the Nicollet area is facing headwinds as an anti-citizen movement emerges.

“There were 200 people at the Grand-Saint-Esprit last night. Some are very opposed, but this is still 200 out of a total of 23,000 citizens. A petition with 700 names was filed – and less than half were from the MRC. So I think we have to put that in perspective,” said Nicolet-Yamaska’s MRC prefect and Nicolet mayor Genevieve DuBois, who is trying to minimize the phenomenon.

The latter also indicated that it intends to conduct a survey of its population.

“I don’t want to listen to loudmouths. I want to hear from everyone,” she added.

Nicollet-Yamaska’s MRC plans to partner with a private promoter to eventually develop a wind farm with sixty towers.

In a conservative scenario, the MRC should earn three million dollars a year for 30 years, but it could be four times that.

In the face of opponents, elected officials took the liberty of throwing the ball back into the Quebec government’s court. For his part, the member for Nicollet-Beconcourt disagreed, still arguing that no one was forced to join this project of clean energy sources.

“You just have to give the good side of things and tell us that it can bring it back and that energy, we need it”, began Donald Martel, with a quick stab.

Innergex, one of the private promoters in the running for the project, is confident despite the opposition, as it is not the first wind turbine project to face opposition.

“It’s not a surprise to us. I think it’s normal to get these kinds of questions when developing a wind farm project,” admits Luc LeBlanc of Innergex.

The MRC will hold a public consultation next week, while Innergex will invite the public to a public meeting on the project on May 30 and 31 in Saint-Perpétue and Saint-Célestin.