Deachman: Dunrobin solar energy project must offer more direct benefits
Are sunny days coming to Dunrobin? Westbridge Renewable Energy Corp. hopes so. The Calgary-based company plans to build a 400-acre, 150-megawatt solar farm near Dunrobin and Vances Side roads. By its footprint — roughly five-and-a-half times the size of LeBreton Flats — it would be one of the largest solar farms in Ontario.
The project promises to deliver plenty of power to Ontario’s grid. What’s not clear is what it will deliver to Dunrobin itself in exchange. But it needs to offer something to a community that has been battered by nature in recent years.
City council is expected to give the project a preliminary yay or nay in mid October. If it advances, Westbridge will still need to clear the usual hurdles — environmental assessments and technical studies, as well as leasing or purchase agreements — before shovels hit the ground. According to the company’s timeline, construction wouldn’t begin until 2029, with the facility going online in 2030.
At first blush, it seems like a win. “Solar is one of the lowest-cost forms of electricity today,” says XiaoYu Wu, assistant professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo. “It’s an important part of decarbonizing Ontario’s grid — it’s a very clean option.”
But not everyone is convinced that clean is enough. Dunrobin resident Matt Jones, whose property backs on to the proposed site and who has spent a decade as an energy and climate change adviser, says locals need a reason to buy in.
“I’m a renewable-energy professional,” he says. “I’m pro-solar, but there’s no reason to have 150 megawatts in one place. We can spread this around.” He’s not being a NIMBY, he says; he just wants a more reasonable size, like something closer to 50 megawatts, which he says would require smaller transmission lines.
I’m pro-solar, but there’s no reason to have 150 megawatts in one place. We can spread this around.
His concern, though, isn’t simply about the scale of the project; it’s about how Dunrobin residents will benefit. Solar farms, he says, shut off during a blackout, enabling hydro workers to access and repair lines. But that needn’t be the case: a local “microgrid” would allow a solar farm to disconnect from the main grid but still power Dunrobin residents in an emergency. “Tell people they don’t need their generator anymore and you change the discussion real quickly,” Jones says.
He’s right. While this project will feed the larger grid, local support for it would likely be strengthened if residents could see tangible benefits. The glow from being part of the general zeitgeist of renewable energy might not be enough.
And it’s easy to sympathize with Dunrobiners who, barely two months after city council agreed to foist an 11-acre battery storage facility on them, learned only recently of plans for this much larger power plant in their ward.
One complaint I heard would be familiar to many of Ottawa’s rural residents: The city will do what it wants, even if we’re against solar farms. This is farmland, after all.
Others have been more positive. “It’s solar panels,” shrugged Ricky Gow. “I’ve got no problem with solar panels. Now wind turbines — that’s a different story.”
A pair of solar panels installed on farm land in Southern Ontario. Dunrobin may see its own version in the coming years.
Some community members I encountered at the Constance Bay Legion were similarly supportive. “It’s inevitable that they’re going to build them,” said Bruce Penney. “So let’s build them where they should be, and this is where they should be — it’s sandy scrubland.”
Mike Mullen agreed: “That land is worthless. You couldn’t get a bucket of topsoil out of the whole place.”
The land, incidentally, is zoned rural — not agricultural — despite some of it being actively farmed. Much of it was used during the Cold War as a radio communications receiver station linked to the Diefenbunker in Carp.
Meanwhile, the rollout of the plan hasn’t helped. Westbridge’s first consultation, a virtual open house on Aug. 13, went poorly. Many residents couldn’t log in, while many also felt blindsided by the short notice. “I would love if these applicants had been here six months ago talking about this,” said West Carleton-March Coun. Clarke Kelly. “Too often we only find out a week before a meeting.”
To its credit, Westbridge has promised a do-over. Margaret McKenna, Westbridge’s COO and board director, says an in-person town hall will take place on Sept. 24 or 25.
She says the company is listening. It will work with individual residents whose views from their property are tarnished by the solar panels, for example, to try to reach solutions. And she’s not ruling out the possibility of providing Dunrobin residents the sort of direct benefits that Jones is championing. “We’re definitely open to considering (a microgrid). We’re in the early stages of exploring whether and how that might be feasible. But conceptually, if it works, we’d love to be able to provide that.”
The province needs projects like these if it’s serious about phasing out less clean and non-renewable gas. At the same time, Westbridge needs to address residents’ concerns. As Kelly notes, “Consultation, location and community benefit are the three areas that we really need to improve when it comes to these projects. I think a lot of people are able to say, ‘OK, I won’t be able to see that tree line as well as I used to, but it’s going to back up my house in a power outage.’
“There are trade-offs that people would be willing to make.”
Dunrobin residents have endured plenty of hardship in recent years: a tornado in 2018, a derecho in 2022, and flooding last year. As much or more than anyone in Ottawa, they deserve an open and thorough consultation on big projects like this one, and a chance to determine how they can fit into their community.
And if Westbridge can help them keep their lights on during an emergency, so much the better.
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