My comments are on those…

My comments are on those parts of the official plan that reference renewable energy and specifically to 4.11 Generally Permitted Uses.
I ask that you instruct the City of Ottawa to remove wind as a permitted use in Ottawa.
Wind turbines should never be a permitted use on farmland, or anywhere near where people live. They do not contribute to a liveable community.
I first got wind of the Energy Evolution document in April 2021. The Energy Evolution document expands on the official plan direction for wind turbines. I was very concerned to see that the plan called for 710 industrial wind turbines to be constructed in rural Ottawa starting with 3-4 of them by 2025. I talked to family, friends, neighbours, anyone I could, to see if they had heard about the wind turbines. No-one had and with few exceptions, no-one wanted them in Ottawa.
The Energy Evolution document is not easy to find yet it signals significant change to rural Ottawa. There has been scant discussion of the placement of IWTs in rural Ottawa.
I appreciate that the City is following the IPCC guidelines to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050. But I believe this can be achieved without destroying our beautiful rural countryside, without impacting the health of rural residents, and disrupting the congenial culture we currently enjoy.
There is increasingly more literature and stories that warn about the folly of relying on IWTs for energy.
Other jurisdictions such as Michigan, California and Texas are discovering that IWTs are not a good solution and too much reliance on them leads to blackouts, brownouts and higher energy prices. A recent court ruling in Michigan supported the use of gas plants over wind and solar saying the latter were not green, not cost effective, and not in the best interests of the people.
In Ontario, we are still paying for the failed experience of the former government’s Green Energy program which heavily featured IWTs. I don’t think anyone would consider this experiment a success. Even former premier Kathleen Wynne has expressed regret in Maclean’s magazine for not listening to advice about the bloated cost of the wind turbine projects.
Closer to home, we also have the experience of the Nation Rise Wind Farm east of Ottawa. I have visited the area and would very much hate to see our Ottawa landscape disrupted in the same manner with the construction of 100s of IWTs. Hundreds of complains have been lodged by residents in the area and the turbines fall far short of their promised delivery of energy.
IWTs have not lived up to their promises.
IWTs are not green nor are they clean. Each wind turbine is constructed using “rare earth” metals, mined under harsh conditions and environmental devastation in China. The massive concrete base of each industrial wind turbine may extend as much as fifty feet into the ground. Concrete manufacture releases vast amounts of polluting mercury into the environment, and the toxic components of concrete set into the earth can contaminate aquifers. Acres of farmland are lost to the turbine base, access roads, and generating stations. And then in 20 years or so, they must be decommissioned. This results in a significant burden on landfills. One report says that wind turbines have a lifetime of 20-25 years and need their gear oils changed every 1-2 years. The required gear oil for a wind turbine can be as much as 600 liters. A report has been completed by the Province (but not yet released) about the contamination of water in Kent county due to the installation of IWTs.
IWTs are disruptive to the community. People report health problems (there is currently an investigation by the Province into resident complaints from the Nation Rise area). Host property owners quickly realize that the IWT company now has a say over how they use your lands. They divide the community. They are not cost effective, contributing little energy to the grid. There has been a report that the IWTs at the Nation Rise interfere with broadband service – not something we need in rural Ottawa. Did you know that rental residences may not be considered in the setback to a wind turbine? The Town of Essex is considering an application to build a seasonal farm worker bunkhouse at 471m from a 2-megawatt wind turbine. Ontario (inadequate) minimum is 550m.
Large wind turbines require a vast amount of external energy to operate. Other electricity plants generally use their own electricity, and the difference between the amount they generate, and the amount delivered to the grid is readily determined. Wind plants, however, use electricity from the grid to start and stop, manage blade pitch, heat the blades, heat the oil, and keep the lights on.
When asked about the plans to host IWTs in Ottawa, the response from staff and councillors was that IWTs in our countryside is inevitable because the province will insist on it. There is no evidence that this is the case. No new wind projects have been started since Premier Wynne spitefully approved the Nation Rise Wind Farm just four days before dropping the writ. The energy produced by this wind farm is not worth the harm visited on this rural community. Her government lost in part because of the devastating experience of their energy policies.
Please instruct the City of Ottawa to remove wind as a permitted use in Ottawa.