West Perth Council received a request to reaffirm its status as an unwilling host for wind turbines this week.
The request came from the Multi-Municipal Energy Working Group. West Perth originally declared its unwillingness to host wind turbines in 2013, and CAO Daniel Hobson says the affirmation request came about because the province is starting a new phase of request for proposals to host wind turbines.
"We brought the information forward to council that they had taken that position already in the past. Based on our research, projects can't move forward in the province unless they have council support, so ultimately council took no position regarding the request and their position as an unwilling host would still stand, in our opinion," said Hobson. "I think just going back to the fact that there's a new wave of RFPs coming through and the province is taking or seeking applications for new wind turbine developments, that's where the request to council to reaffirm came from. The process has changed a bit since the first time."
Hobson says back in 2013 under the Wynne government, the way RFPs and applications to build wind turbines was slightly different.
"Previously you could submit an application and it would get approval, and then I believe you had 18 months to get your local municipal approval. Now it's a gatekeeping step. If you don't have municipal approval (prior to submitting the application), the province won't even look at your application as we understand it today."
Hobson says because the process has changed where municipalities now get first say before applications for wind turbines are even made, council decided it didn't need to take action on the request to reaffirm its position as unwilling wind turbine hosts.
In council's mind, Hobson says their stance still stands as far as they're concerned and they won't be hosting wind turbines in West Perth.
