Armow Wind Project to contribute more than $13.5 million to support local initiatives and the Kincardine Airport
KINCARDINE, Ontario, May 27, 2014 – The Municipality of Kincardine, together with Samsung Renewable Energy (Samsung) and Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Development), today announced a donation and pledge of at least $13.5 million dollars to the Municipality of Kincardine as part of the Armow Wind Project Community Benefit Program. The program includes a $1 million contribution to the Kincardine Airport for their use to improve local operations and $12.6 million into a Community Benefit Reserve Fund over twenty years. Samsung and Pattern Development have also signed a Road Use Agreement with the Municipality, which will govern the Project’s commitments to ensure safe use of roads during its construction period and full restoration upon the completion of construction.
The Armow Wind project is a 180 megawatt (MW) project that will be located in the Municipality of Kincardine and is expected to begin construction later this year. The project will utilize local Ontario-made wind turbine components from the Siemens Energy blade factory in Tillsonburg and the CS Wind tower factory in Windsor.
Kincardine Mayor Larry Kraemer commented, “We appreciate that the agreement with Samsung/Pattern team respects the key considerations set out in the Memorandum of Understanding of early 2013. As our solicitor has observed, the development agreement should be regarded as “state of the art” in Ontario, and the community benefit package should be seen as a generous contribution with substantial benefit to our Municipality.”
“Samsung is thankful to become part of this community in Kincardine and proud of the local jobs the project will create,” said Mr. K.J. Kim, Senior Vice President, Samsung C&T. “Samsung is dedicated to delivering meaningful benefits to communities where we are building clean, renewable energy projects.”
“We very much want to thank the landowners, community members and the municipality. We are excited about being part of this community and we look forward to contributing to the area, including the community, educational and environmental programs,” said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Development.
Combined with the estimated property taxes to be paid by Armow Wind, the Municipality of Kincardine will receive more than $20 million during the project’s first twenty years of operation. Upon reaching operations, Armow Wind will contribute $1,030,000 to the Kincardine Airport and contribute $630,000 into the Community Benefit Reserve Fund each year for the following twenty years.
The Community Benefits Reserve Fund will support local initiatives in the Municipality of Kincardine. Examples of activities the Fund may support include but are not limited to:
Community Infrastructure: roads, airport and municipal servicing infrastructure
Community Services: police, fire, emergency medical services and healthcare
Education: educational programs and job training
Energy Sustainability: municipal renewable energy systems, vehicle fleet efficiency upgrades, building energy efficiency upgrades and energy conservation programs
Land Stewardship: creating natural habitat, tree planting, shoreline rehabilitation
Property tax relief for residents and businesses in the community
Public Recreation: construction, renovation or rehabilitation of public arenas, parks and trails
In addition, Armow Wind agreed to the following requests of the Municipality:
Bury all low-voltage collector lines located on private property carrying electricity from the Project’s wind turbines, where feasible;
Create a Tree Preservation and Replacement Plan;
Follow an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan;
Implement a Complaint Resolution Process; and,
Turbines will not be located within the Kincardine Airport Vicinity or within 3,000 metres of the Primary and Secondary Urban Communities of Kincardine, Tiverton and the Lake Shore.
The Armow Wind project is expected to begin construction in late 2014 and reach operations in 2015. Upon completion, the project will generate energy equal to the annual electricity needs of approximately 70,000 Ontario homes. Compared to coal-fired generation, the project will offset approximately 600,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, the equivalent of taking nearly 117,000 cars off the roads, and conserve enough water to supply approximately 17,000 Ontarians with fresh water.