Nicolet: Headwinds for a wind turbine project

A wind farm development in the Nikolet area faces headwinds as a citizen movement hits the scene.

“There were 200 people in Grand-Saint-Esprit last night. Some were vehemently dissenting, but there were still 200 people out of a total of 23,000 citizens. 700 names petitioned – and less than half were people from the MRC.” The MRC governor argued To Nicolé Yamasca and Nicollet Mayor, Genevieve Dubois, in trying to minimize this phenomenon, so I think we have to put it straight.

The latter also indicated that it intends to conduct a survey among its residents.

“I don’t just want to hear loud speakers. I want to hear from everyone,” she added.

The Nicollet Yamasca MRC plans to partner with a private promoter on the eventual development of a wind farm with about sixty towers.

In a conservative scenario, the MRC should make $3 million a year for 30 years, but it could go up to four times as much.

In front of the opponents, the elected officials took the liberty of throwing the ball back into the court of the Quebec government. For his part, member Nicolet-Bécancour disagreed, considering that no one is obliged to join this project which is still about a source of clean energy.

“You just have to give the good side of things and say whatever you can to bring it back and that energy, we need it,” Donald Martel gushed, snapping.

One of the private promoters in the race for the project, Innergex, remains confident despite the appearance of opposition, as this is not the first wind turbine project that has faced resistance.

“For us, this is not a surprise. I think it is normal to have such questions when developing a wind farm project,” agreed Luc LeBlanc of Innergex.

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