Concerted work for successful implementation
To guarantee respectful integration into the territory and the community, Éoliennes de L’Érable wanted to go beyond the minimum criteria defined by RCM of L’Érable and the Ministère de l’environnement, du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les Changements Climatiques. It also considers the suggestions and comments of elected officers, the public and local organizations to deploy many initiatives:
- The minimum distance between the wind turbines and residences was increased to 500 m, which exceeds the standard of ICB 270 of RCM L’Érable (400 m). To respond to the public’s concerns, several wind turbines were moved from their initial positions. Moreover, during planning of the project, nine alternative locations were identified, in addition to the project’s 50 initial turbine sites, to offer the project optimum flexibility. The distribution of the 50 wind turbines in small clusters strongly minimizes the wind farm’s visual and sound impact.
- The height of nearly all the wind turbines was reduced from 98 to 85 metres. The turbine locations comply with a minimum distance from operating and potential sugar bushes. It also complies with the minimum distances from wetlands and watercourses
A technology without a negative health impact
“Health Canada, in collaboration with Statistics Canada and other external experts launched a multiyear research study in July 2012 to explore the relationship between exposure to sound levels produced from wind turbines and the extent of health effects reported by, and objectively measured in, those living near wind turbines.”
This study, published in 2014, had the following conclusions among its main findings: “[Exposure to WTN] was not found to be associated with any significant changes in reported quality
of life (…), nor with overall quality of life and satisfaction with health.”*
* Source: Health Canada www.hc-sc.gc.ca