With the consultation process still underway, the NaiKun Wind Development project for the waters off the Queen Charlottes is still on track for development in less than two years.
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The company recently were visited by both the Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell and the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. They both toured NaiKun's Vancouver facilities, during the Premier's recent Pacific Economic summit Besides some snappy photos of the governmental types oohing and aahing over the potential, the visit provided a fair amount of media coverage for their ongoing efforts to harness the winds.
NaiKun’s Ray Castelli provided an update on the project for the Daily News on Wednesday, outlining the process so far, who the stakeholders in the project are and what remains to be done before the much discussed Wind Farm becomes a reality.
The details were part of the Daily’s front page story on the issue.
NaiKun firming up plans for North Coast wind farm
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Pages one and three
NaiKun Wind Development is just waiting for a few final stakeholder groups to complete their comments on its draft terms of reference, in order to formally define the area that will be studied prior to constructing Canada's first offshore wind farm.
"We've been waiting for that to continue the various studies we have been doing," said Ray Castelli, president of NaiKun Wind Development.
While studies on the potential area for the wind farm site in Hecate Strait have been underway for a number of years, the environmental assessment terms of reference will include a detailed study design for the various areas of study for the offshore wind farm.
"The only thing that might change is that one of the stakeholders might want something additional added," he said.
The terms of reference are important as they identify the issues to be addressed and the information to be provided by NaiKun as part of its Environmental Assessment application. Terms of reference indicate the baseline studies needed to describe the project's environmental, economic, social, health and heritage setting, the predicted impacts on the setting, and the proposed measures to reduce, avoid or manage those impacts.
The government decision on whether to issue an environmental assessment certificate focuses on how effectively the application has addressed the issues identified in the terms of reference.
So far, 13 letters have come in from the public in regards to the terms of reference, highlighting concerns that range from the impact on the commercial crab fishery to the migratory birds in the area.
The NaiKun Wind Farm project includes constructing a 320-megawatt project (enough to power 120,000 thousand homes in B.C.), involves installing wind turbines in the waters east of the Queen Charlotte Islands, with an underwater cable linking the energy to a substation near Port Edward.
The area identified for the wind farm is a 36-kilometre area off Dog Fish Banks. However, it is expected not all of this area will be used for the wind farm.
Pending approval and First Nations consultation, construction is anticipated to begin in spring or summer of 2009.
NaiKun is also working toward agreements with the Tsimshian First Nations because the proposed cable link from Hecate Strait to Port Edward will run through Tsimshian territory.
"Obviously, we have put a lot of time and effort in to the Haida relationship because that's where the wind farms are located and we are now working on the Tsimshian relationships because that's where the transmission lines will be moving through," said Castelli.
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