The low autumn sun lights up the scorched larch trees. Cows’ tails beat in the doorways of the stables. A light wind gently sways the tops of the weeping willows. No doubt, we are in the countryside. Suddenly, large white wind turbines appear on the horizon, at the end of the road.
In this corner of Montérégie, not far from the Yamaska River, twelve wind turbines have been part of the decor since December 2016. “In the region, when we ask children to draw a landscape, they put wind turbines. A local microbrewery even produces a beer bearing the image of our wind turbines,” says Patrick Péloquin, the mayor of Sorel-Tracy, a town which is one of the owners of the wind farm.
In fact, the Pierre-De Saurel wind farm belongs exclusively to the MRC of the same name. This makes it the only “100% community” wind project in Quebec. Elsewhere, private actors are still part of the equation. “We are proud of our park,” explains the mayor, who welcomes Duty for a visit, while wind projects are on the verge of multiplying in the province, with Hydro-Québec which wants to add 10,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power to its network by 2035.
The Pierre-De Saurel wind farm has its offices in the small village of Massueville (500 inhabitants). Yanick Léveillé, the general manager, turns on a large screen which serves as a dashboard. Green bars indicate that the twelve turbines are running at more than 90% of their maximum power, which amounts to 2.05 MW each. At the top of the masts, the winds are blowing at 35 km/h this morning.
“Here, we are in a weak wind regime,” explains Mr. Léveillé. As a result, we have chosen wind turbines that start at low speed, but reach full capacity relatively quickly. » At the end of the year, these wind turbines will have generated 20% to 30% of their nominal capacity, for a total of approximately 60 gigawatt hours, which is equivalent to the needs of 2,500 residences.
An annual prize pool of two million
By car, it only takes ten minutes to reach the wind farm. Mr. Léveillé’s vehicle runs along the Yamaska River, crosses recently harvested fields, and takes a row. Short access paths lead to each wind turbine. “We will never be able to deconstruct the criticism of the loss of agricultural land,” admits Mr. Léveillé while steering the wheel. That said, the footprint of these 21st century millse century impresses with its smallness, he points out.
In fact, the space at the foot of each mast is equivalent to that of a garage surrounded by a gravel roundabout. Stopping at the foot of one of the wind turbines, you can hear the wind whistling through the blades. “That’s the most noise they can make,” says Mr. Léveillé. The sound is similar to that, in a house, generated by a vacuum cleaner used in the next room. It quickly fades into the countryside. The closest residences are 700 meters away, and they are not located downstream of the prevailing winds which could carry away the decibels. No neighbors express their dissatisfaction with the company, according to the director.
Year in, year out, the park produces profits of around $2 million. This pot is redistributed to the municipalities of the MRC in proportion to their population. They have the freedom to use this money or reduce their taxes. With its 36,000 inhabitants, Sorel-Tracy pockets about half of the loot, or 1 million dollars, compared to a total municipal budget of 75 million. Thanks to this cash cow, its municipal economic development agency went from 2 to 14 employees. “It makes a huge difference,” said the mayor.
Despite the obvious benefits, such community projects may not be repeated anytime soon elsewhere in Quebec, believes Mr. Péloquin. “The context has completely changed since the opening of our park,” he says. The MRC Pierre-De Saurel benefits from a feed-in tariff which, thanks to indexation, is close to 17 cents per kilowatt hour. Post-hydroelectric supplies from Hydro-Québec cost much less, on average, at 11¢/kWh. Now that the wind industry is more mature, the state corporation is raising its requirements.
A second project envisaged
At the end of the wind farm row, we find the pigsties of Louis R. Joyal. His grain dryer hums loudly. “We no longer hear about visual pollution, noise, fears that neighboring properties will lose value. All that is in the past,” says the producer, who grows organic corn, soybeans and wheat on his 800 hectares of land.
Four wind turbines are planted at his home. Under his contract with the Pierre-De Saurel wind farm, he receives 2.7% of the gross revenues associated with it — approximately $20,000 per wind turbine, per year. This is “quite interesting” compensation, but marginal compared to his agricultural activities. As for the loss of arable land, it is negligible, he judges.
From Massueville, where the old houses display their most beautiful Halloween decorations, you can see the wind turbines spinning in the distance, about five kilometers away. We obviously can’t hear them. “It’s very rare that they are arrested,” observes Frédéric Barbeau, who is enjoying the sun on his gallery. “I’m more in favor of wind turbines, I don’t think it spoils the landscape. The worst nuisance is the red lights at night, which signal their presence to planes. It might look a bit like a Christmas tree,” he observes with a laugh.
“Personally, I don’t see a problem with it,” says Suzanne Desrosiers, a resident of this part of the country for 47 years, caught on a health walk. “Nothing has changed in my life since the wind turbines were installed,” she continues. At first, some people were reluctant, but that is no longer the case. » His brother, involved in the project, showed him around the site in 2016. Steel piles were then driven 100 meters into the clay soil, to support the future wind turbines.
The elected officials of the MRC Pierre-De Saurel intend to take advantage of this first wind experience to develop a second project. This will take a completely different form: to be profitable despite a lower feed-in tariff, the park will have to include more powerful turbines, and more numerous. The current working hypothesis: around twenty wind turbines, for 150 MW in total.
Construction costs will be “enormous,” warns the mayor. To reduce financial risks, a private developer, Hydroméga, is part of the adventure. Discussions are underway with landowners, a little further away in the MRC. “We want to be ready. As soon as there is a new call for tenders, we will submit our proposal,” promises Mayor Péloquin.
