A test tower collecting wind data on the site of the Mersey River Wind farm in Milton. (Renewall Energy)

The Mersey River wind farm in Milton has finally broken ground, with crews getting the site ready this fall for when turbines are delivered next year.

“We are moving forward with the construction of the wind farm,” said Dan Roscoe, CEO of Roswall Development, the company that plans to install 33 windmills on Crown land west of the Mersey River.

“What will take place over the coming weeks will mostly be work on roads and grading, and we’re going to get as much done as we can before the snow flies. It’ll probably take us into  the first week or two of January until we have to shut down, and then we’ll pick things up in probably March or April.”

Once the windmills are operational, Queens County residents will be able to buy power directly from Roswall’s subsidiary Renewall Energy.

Renewall promises that its rates will be lower and more stable than Nova Scotia Power’s. Hundreds of people have already signed up to be among the first residential customers, and the company also has agreements with more than 30 commercial, industrial, and government customers. The Region of Queens Municipality is one of them.

Roscoe told QCCR this week the company is in talks with about a dozen more big users.

“We’ve been engaging commercial and larger customers for some time, and that has continued. We continue to sign up new customers.”

Renewall sent out notices this week to people on its mailing list and to other local groups to tell them they’d be working at the site in Milton.

Roscoe said they’re still on schedule to have the wind turbines delivered by fall of 2026. He says people are excited about one of the first big wind projects in Nova Scotia that will sell power directly to homeowners.

“So it’s a big milestone for us, and I think it’s a big milestone for Nova Scotia. I think there’s a lot of interest in having choice of who we can buy electricity from. So we think it’s exciting for both electricity customers in Nova Scotia and the renewable energy industry in general.”

In 2021, Renewall was the first in Nova Scotia to be awarded a licence to sell power directly to consumers under the Renewable to Retail program introduced by the provincial government in 2015. The program allows companies to supply electricity directly to consumers while paying Nova Scotia Power a tariff for use of their grid.

People can sign up for updates on the project on the Mersey River Wind website.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Dan Roscoe is the CEO of Roswall Development, which owns Renewall Energy, the company behind Mersey River Wind. (Renewall Energy)

Work may start soon on the Mersey River Wind project in Milton.

Dan Roscoe is the CEO of Roswall Development, the company that plans to build a 33-wind turbine farm on 80 hectares of Crown land west of the Mersey River, under its Renewall Energy subsidiary.

He told QCCR this week that the company is still on track to erect its first batch of windmills by late 2026.

“We still hope to start in the next few months and take advantage of the summer season,” Roscoe said in an interview.

“Turbines are still scheduled to arrive likely next June, but generally the middle of next year. It’s still our plan to do 20 turbines in ’26 and 13 turbines in ‘27.”

Roscoe said most of the site-clearing work has been done. And he expects crews to begin working on the roads this spring and summer.

“We would’ve all loved to have a shovel in the ground by now, but we’re still on schedule for ’26.”

There’s a lot of excitement locally about the project, which promises to sell electricity directly to consumers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power. And Renewall says their rates will be lower and more stable than the privately owned utility.

When about 24 windmill blades showed up in Port Mersey Commercial Park in Brooklyn recently, people thought they were for the Mersey River project.

Roscoe says that equipment doesn’t belong to them. Those are for a wind farm in Benjamins Mill near Falmouth.

“Those are going to a project in Hants County. But that is the same route that we’re planning to use for all of our components, not just the blades.”

Roswall has about 30 commercial, industrial and institutional customers signed up for Mersey River Wind so far, including the Region of Queens and other municipal governments in Halifax, Shelburne and Bridgewater.

And he said hundreds of individuals have added their names to a list of early residential customers. Those who live near the wind farm, essentially anybody in Queens County, will get priority access.

“With many of our customers, there’s this push for stability, especially in the public sector where you’re trying to operate under a fixed budget. If your electricity cost goes up, your cost of water treatment goes up, but if you can stabilize your cost of energy well that major input into your water treatment cost is now is now stabilized and predictable. I suggest that climate and so forth, bring us together, but it’s really the commercial terms that they could save money and have predictability going forward which really is what gets people the most excited.”

Roscoe says the company’s community liaison committee will keep people updated as construction begins.

Residents can also subscribe to the company’s newsletter on the Mersey River Wind website and sign up to be a customer on the Renewall Energy website.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of the story below