GENERAL The proposed Nahwitti Windfarm Project is located north west of Nahwitti Lake on private land holdings owned by Nahwitti Land-holdings 1 Ltd. and on Crown public lands leased from the British Columbia government. The proposed project will generate clean, renewable energy from approximately 75 wind turbine generators (WTG’s), and the proposed project will be developed in two phases over the next five years. The total nominal installed capacity of phase one will be approximately 100 megawatts (MW) increasing to 150MW within the five years. The energy production from the two phases will be evacuated to British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority on the BC Transmission Corp (BCTC) main 138kV transmission line at Holberg Road, via a proposed 138kV transmission line to be built by the Project along an existing logging road. PROJECT AREA The Nahwitti Windfarm Project Area is located approximately 11 kilometres north of Holberg in the northwest region of Vancouver Island. The Project Area is 45 km west of Port Hardy, a seaport at the north end of Vancouver Island, and is within the Regional District of Mount Waddington. The closest municipality is the District of Port Hardy. Both the Board of the Regional District and the Mayor and Council have been consulted with respect to development of this Project. The Project Area lies within an overlap area of the traditional territories of the Tlatlasikwala First Nation and the Quatsino First Nation, and to some extent the Kwakiutl First Nation. These First Nations have established a Three Nation Project Working Group to discuss proposed wind farms in the area. The Project site covers approximately 10,000 hectares. Of this, 500 hectares is free hold private land and the remainder is Provincial Crown Land. The majority of the area is relatively level and covered with shallow bogs and stunted trees interspersed with small rock outcrops. The southern Project Area is very steep mountainside. Most of the merchantable timber has been harvested; however the Tyllia and Bragg Rivers, which transverse the area, have steep banks and are heavily forested on the riverbed. There are access roads to the private properties. The landforms and geological features are characteristic of the basalt basement rocks in the area. Rainfall is high (3,000 to 5,000 mm per year), and fog is frequent. This is reflected in the natural rain forest vegetation, which is characteristic of the wet coastal bio-geoclimatic zone where it is located. View Map of Nahwitti Windafarm Area View an Updated Map of Nahwitti Windafarm Area (Mar 7th '07) (Adode Reader required to view - click here if you need to install) |
