By Connor Lynch
DUTTON-DUNWICH — A large and deeply unpopular wind project at Dutton-Dunwich in Elgin County was one of 218 Western Ontario renewable energy projects cancelled by the province last month.
The London Free Press reports that the Strong Breeze wind project, approved in 2016 and due to start construction in 2019, was a deeply unpopular project in the municipality. A referendum held during the approval process saw 80 per cent of residents vote against hosting wind turbines.
It was a sizeable project among the 218 renewable energy contracts in Western Ontario that the Tories nixed in an announcement last month. It was approved for 57.5 megawatts of power. Another project due to be built in the area, the 12-turbine Otter Creek wind project, has been cancelled as well.
The Strong Breeze project is a little over half the size of the 100 MW, 34-turbine North Kent wind project. That highly controversial wind project, where locals have expressed concerns about their well water, was not cancelled.
The government said that the 758 cancelled projects across the province will save ratepayers $790 million.
