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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.
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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.
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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.”
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A pair of solar panels installed on farm land in Southern Ontario. Dunrobin may see its own version in the coming years. Photo by Brian Thompson /Postmedia Article content
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.”
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Mike Mullen agreed: “That land is worthless. You couldn’t get a bucket of topsoil out of the whole place.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.’
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“There are trade-offs that people would be willing to make.”
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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.
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And if Westbridge can help them keep their lights on during an emergency, so much the better.
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https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/dunrobin-solar-project-benefits
