The Digby Wind Power Project is located in Digby County, Nova Scotia, more specifically in the Digby Neck.

SkyPower Corp. (SkyPower) and Scotian Windfields Inc. have plans for the Digby Wind Power Project to interconnect to Nova Scotia’s Power System. The power to be generated by this wind project will go directly into the Conway substation. This substation serves the town of Digby, Digby Neck and surrounding areas.

SkyPower and Scotian Windfields Inc. have been developing the Digby Project site for over 2 years, and have installed monitoring equipment across the project area. Studies conducted by third party experts have indicated that Digby has an excellent wind regime to support a successful wind power project.

The Project is expected to create approximately 40 to 50 construction jobs and 3 to 5 highly skilled, full-time operations and maintenance jobs.

To ensure that the local community benefits from the Project, when possible and competitive, SkyPower and Scotian Windfields Inc. will procure materials and components from local suppliers. In addition, when feasible, they will provide local employment opportunities throughout the development of the Project.

Construction and operation activities for the Digby Wind Power Project will likely generate all sorts of economic opportunities for the local community. Local businesses, such as shops, restaurants, hotels, motels and others will benefit from economic activity driven by new jobs in the local area.

For the Environmental Assessment, studies have been conducted to characterize the natural and socio-economic environment of the Project area, including:

• Spring, summer, winter and fall avian monitoring (Q4 2007 up to Q3 2008);


• Vegetation surveys (June and August 2008);


• Aquatic surveys (September 2008);


• Ambient sound monitoring (June 2008); and


• Site visits to support the socioeconomic and visual impact assessments (June and November 2008).

In addition, the following studies were conducted to support the EA:

• Archaeological and heritage resources review;


• Noise impact study;


• Visual impact assessment;


• Shadow flicker modeling; and


• Mi’kmaq Ecological Knowledge Study (“MEKS”).

Assessment of environmental impacts were done for the following: soil; water quality (surface and groundwater); aquatic environment (including fish and fish habitat); terrestrial vegetation; wildlife (including birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians); archaeological and heritage resources; existing and planned land use (including forestry); local community; visual aesthetics; noise; recreation and tourism and safety.

In November 2008, a Project information sheet was sent to the Annapolis Valley First Nation and Bear River First Nation. In February 2009, SkyPower and Scotian Windfields Inc. contracted a qualified Mi'kmaq Consulting Company to prepare the MEKS for the Project. The MEKS will identify land and resource use which is of particular importance to the Mi’kmaq people with respect to the Digby Wind Power Project and as well, will seek to identify and document traditional ecological knowledge which may be significant to the Project.

As part of the Environmental Assessment for the Project, SkyPower and Scotian Windfields Inc. has completed a Visual Impact Assessment, which involves using different viewpoints throughout the community to produce a simulated, three-dimensional model of potential turbine locations. The study anticipates any potential visual impacts of the Project, and if necessary, using these simulations, minimizes these impacts of the Project.

In addition to ongoing consultation with affected landowners, SkyPower and Scotian Windfields Inc. representatives have consulted with the local community and stakeholders primarily through a public meeting at the Rossway Community Centre with representatives from NSPI (May 2008), a municipal council meeting (November 2008) and a public community information session at the Rossway Community Centre (November 2008).