Wind turbines of the lordship of Beaupré (Archive photo)
David Rémillard (View profile)David Rémillard
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The first phase of the Neiges wind turbine megaproject planned in the seigneury of Beaupré, northeast of Quebec, will be subject to the work of the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE).
The Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, gave the mandate in a letter addressed to the BAPE on January 4. This decision follows requests for public consultations received by the BAPE earlier this fall.
The information, first revealed by LaPresse, was confirmed by the BAPE on Wednesday morning. His mandate will officially begin on February 5.
The hearings will only focus on phase 1 of the Neiges project, namely the South sector.
Located on the limits of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges and north of Mont Sainte-Anne in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jacques-Cartier within the MRC of Côte-de-Beaupré, this phase provides for the construction of 60 with 80 wind turbines and a production capacity of 400 megawatts of electricity.
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The map of the different wind farm projects in the seigneury of Beaupré.
The Neiges project, developed equally by Boralex, Énergir and Hydro-Québec, ultimately provides for a production capacity of 1,200 megawatts by the fall of 2027. This is the largest project of its kind in Canada at the moment.
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The company briefly reacted to the holding of BAPE hearings for phase 1 on Wednesday.
We welcome the holding of public hearings which are part of the BAPE process, which is well established and recognized in Quebec. We believe this is an excellent [opportunity] to cover certain aspects of the project in more depth and to answer questions from various stakeholders, said spokesperson Kathryne Coulombe.
< source srcset="https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_700/v1/ici-info/perso/parc-eolien-cote-beaupre-ste-anne-st-ferreol-projet-eolienne-boralex- line-time.jpg" media="(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 1023px)">Open in full screen mode
The different stages of preparation and deadlines for construction projects Boralex wind farms on Côte-de-Beaupré and in Charlevoix.
A total of 164 wind turbines are already located in the seigneury of Beaupré, also operated by Boralex. Their power reaches 364 megawatts.
The wind farms are located on the lands of the Séminaire, the largest private land in the country (1,600 km2), which belongs at the Seminary of Quebec. This receives royalties from the industrial activities that take place there. In addition to energy, the forestry sector has developed on these lands.
For the South sector and therefore phase 1, several citizens are concerned about the proximity of the wind turbines to Mont Sainte-Anne. Some infrastructure could be located just 534 meters north of the boundaries of Mont-Sainte-Anne park. According to Boralex, no wind turbines will be located within 5 km of the top of the ski mountain.
Still according to Boralex, the wind turbines will have a total height of 200 meters. The central tower is 120 meters while the blades will be 80 meters long each.
A petition was launched in particular to demand a buffer zone of 3 km between the limits of Mont-Sainte-Anne park and the wind farm. Some 1,400 people, including Olympian Pierre Harvey, signed the document.
After the South sector, Boralex and its partners want to develop the West and Charlevoix sectors. In the case of the last component, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment has already shown itself to be dissatisfied with the duties carried out by Boralex in its environmental impact studies.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Wind turbines would be found in particular in the habitat of the woodland caribou, an endangered species in Canada. The Charlevoix herd is in captivity and habitat restoration efforts are awaited.
David Rémillard (View profile)David RémillardFollow
Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116
