Nextera Planning For A Bid Under Renewable Energy Program On

Officials with NextEra were scheduled to attend Brooke-Alvinston council Thursday, and they have been talking with staff in Warwick.

Both townships are among the Ontario municipalities that declared themselves unwilling hosts for wind turbines.

Ontario's 2009 Green Energy Act stripped municipal councils of their planning powers for wind projects, but the provincial government said in 2013 a new system of awarding renewable energy projects would require companies to work with municipalities.

"It will be very, very difficult for a developer to be approved without municipal engagement, in some significant way," Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said at the time.

The new procurement program scores projects based on several sets of criteria, including whether or not they have municipal support, Greenhouse said.

He said that support improves a project's chances, but "not having municipal support isn't necessarily a fatal blow."

Reference: cleanpowerlife.blogspot.com