Wind Power Feasibility Study

Due to rapid population growth in the Town of Richmond Hill, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the Town’s corporate operations have increased steadily since 1990. Electricity consumption is the Town’s largest contributor to corporate GHG emissions, but the Town has no control over the electricity source and supply. A 2004 wind power pre-feasibility study concluded that there is potential for the development of community-scale wind power generation to supply up to eight Megawatts (MW) of electricity serving 2,500 homes. This Wind Power Feasibility Study (WPFS) will build on the pre-feasibility study by completing a wind resource quantification study, environmental assessment, electrical inter-connection study, preliminary design drawings, and estimating capital project costs. Wind power electricity generation in the Town will contribute to the Ontario Government’s target of 10 per cent electricity supply from renewable sources by 2010. A successful wind power project will also assist the Town in achieving its corporate Kyoto target by 2010. The proposed wind power project has the potential to produce 7,987,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year or approximately 29 per cent of the Town’s annual electricity demand. This project could result in the displacement of 7,480 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 12 tonnes of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions per year.