Tilting at windmills
Despite threats of blackouts, harnessing wind power is still no breeze in the cityBy BOYD ERMAN
Saturday, July 30, 2005 Page M4
Special to The Globe and Mail
Harry Wynen stands on a patch of grass beside his condominium tower in Toronto's west end, imagining a windmill like the ones generating power all over his native Netherlands.
As building superintendent, resident and member of the condo board, the 65-year-old is leading the drive for a turbine to cut the 15-storey building's rising power bill -- and to keep the lights on when the next blackout occurs.
"When it's feasible for a farmhouse in Europe, why not for us?" he asks.
Toronto and many of its suburbs are packed along Lake Ontario, which often provides a steady breeze. The provincial government says it is committed to finding alternative power sources to take the pressure off Ontario's aging energy infrastructure, which threatens every sweltering day to plunge the city into darkness. And an array of provincial subsidies exists to promote alternative power.
So why has the city received fewer than a dozen planning applications for privately owned wind turbines?
The answer may lie in the thicket of complications, from zoning rules to electrical safety codes to slow-moving utilities -- and the fact that those financial incentives are aimed at big wind farms and do little to help do-it-yourself power producers, who are only eligible for a provincial sales-tax rebate.
Mr. Wynen's building is on an eight-acre property near Highway 427 and Dundas Street West. The condo plans to undertake a study on the feasibility of wind power, but has not yet applied to the city for a turbine. Mr. Wynen says the plan is to look at the idea and then, if the residents are in favour, they'll go to the city with a proposal.
Alternative-energy advocates say people like Mr. Wynen are needed to push the province, the city and utilities to make it simpler to harness the breeze.
Examples of what's possible abound in Britain, where London's mayor has set a target of 500 downtown wind generators. The Scottish government plans to force municipal planners to allow rooftop turbines.
"Change is difficult and complicated, but it's absolutely crucial, and now that we're looking at the overload on the transmission grid, the solution to that is to produce power closer to where it's needed," says Keith Stewart, who leads the Toronto Environmental Alliance's anti-smog campaign. "I think in 20 to 30 years you'll be buying a building that produces its own power. It's going to be a slog, but that's where we're going."
A new building near Yonge Street and Highway 401 will be the first in Toronto to feature wind generation. The condo tower, built by developer Shane Baghai, will have two turbines on top to power the emergency lighting system, says David Cooke, whose company, True North Power Systems, is providing the Lakota turbines.
Another Lakota is already turning on top of a low-rise building across from the Art Gallery of Ontario, as part of a University of Toronto study of the potential for wind power in built-up areas.
The challenge for condos is to produce enough power. For most large buildings, the best use of wind power is as a backup or to meet a small energy requirement, such as lobby lights, Mr. Cooke says. The 16-kilogram Lakota turbines, which have blades about a metre long, are built to provide enough juice for just one household.
"If you've got 500 units in a building, you can't have 500 turbines on top," he said.
For individual homeowners, the trick is getting zoning approval from the city and neighbours for a tower that will get a turbine into the undisturbed breeze above the rooftops.
Then there's the cost. A Lakota costs about $2,700, and batteries, a tower and other necessary gear can push the bill over $10,000.
Mr. Wynen says the people in his building to whom he has talked have not expressed opposition to the turbine idea, but he adds that could change once they discover the cost.
The province is trying to ease the path and improve the economics, says Ted Gruetzner, a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy. By the fall, he says, legislation should be passed that will force utilities to allow home generators to connect to the grid, and will allow small-scale power producers to earn more credit for energy production.
As wind power gets easier and more popular, the city can expect more applications for windmills, says John Humphries, the technical adviser to the City of Toronto's chief building official. For now, he says Torontonians don't seem that concerned about saving energy.
"Developers tell me energy-efficiency isn't a big selling point for condos," he said.
For Mr. Wynen and Wally Walsh, the president of the condo board, economics aren't the only factor.
"I can foresee another blackout," Mr. Walsh said. "It's our responsibility to try and conserve power if it's worth the investment."
Mr. Wynen says he's thinking big. He'd like to see a turbine that would stand in a treed area of the condo's park-like property, and would be large enough to power a significant portion of the building's 91 units.
Mr. Walsh isn't sure that would get support from residents or the neighbours living in the tony houses up the street, who will be consulted once there's an official plan, but he can envision smaller turbines for emergencies.
"If we can achieve things that are not monetary -- say, keeping one of our elevators working during a blackout -- just that would be something," he says.
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