Ontario faces court challenge over wind-farm’s cancellation
December 21, 2019
Builders of a nearly completed wind farm southeast of Ottawa have asked a judge to reverse Ontario’s cancellation of its operating permit amid mounting uncertainty about the future of renewable energy projects in the province.
After concluding its turbines would harm local bat populations, Environment Minister Jeff Yurek revoked the Nation Rise Wind Farm’s permit on Dec. 4. That was just three months before they were to begin generating electricity: 16 of the planned 29 turbines were fully or partially built. The owner, which says it has spent or committed $230-million to date, asked Ontario’s Divisional Court on Dec. 10 for a judicial review on the grounds the decision was incorrect and unreasonable.
“It’s just astonishing to us that this happened at this stage of the project,” said Ryan Brown, executive vice-president for EDP Renewables Canada, a subsidiary of Madrid-based EDP Renovaveis S.A.
