Tarquti takes group on tour of Quebec wind farms
Energy developer brought 30 Nunavik community leaders to learn more about clean energy
Tarquti Energy Inc. staff and 30 Nunavik community leaders pose in front of a wind farm in the Gaspésie region of Quebec during a four-day learning tour earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of Tarquti Energy Inc.)
A recent trip to a wind farm in Quebec gave Tarquti Energy staff and 30 other Nunavimmiut a chance to see what clean energy generation looks like face to face.
The group travelled to the Gaspésie region of Quebec Sept. 9 to 12 as part of the Renewable Energy Exploration Tour. Tarquti staff joined representatives from community groups in Nunavik that work on local energy projects.
“Clean energy is not well known, especially in our region,” said Andy Pirti, Tarquti’s director of community partnerships and business development, in a phone interview.
“A regular person is just happy to have electricity in their house even if it is produced by diesel generators.”
He added, “It’s important to try and bring these people in an environment where there is a lot of work being done to convert into clean energy.”
Tarquti is the only regionally owned renewable energy developer operating in Nunavik.
Among the tour stops, the group visited two farms generating wind power.
The first farm, in l’Anse-à-Valleau, north of Gaspé, produces more than 100 megawatts. That power is fed into the Hydro Quebec grid and used throughout the province.
The second was a Mi’gmaq-run 150-megawatt wind farm west of Gaspé named Mesgi’g Ugju’s’n, meaning ‘big wind.’ Wind power generated there is used to power three Mi’gmaq communities.
For a comparison of how far 100 megawatts of power will go, the Innavik dam produces 7.5 megawatts, which is enough to power the community of Inukjuak with approximately 1,800 residents.
The group also visited a clean energy research centre, a wind power manufacturer, and a local CEGEP that trains students in wind farm operations and maintenance.
They were accompanied on the visits by Dr. Steeve Côté, of Caribou Ungava, an expert in caribou and muskox in Nunavik.
Côté presented possible approaches to studying the impacts of wind turbines on caribou.
One study, conducted in Scandinavia in 2023, found semi-domesticated reindeer can be disturbed by the turbines and avoid those areas while grazing.
Pirti said Tarquti is working on partnerships with the Nunavik community organizations involved with the trip and those who joined appeared to appreciate the opportunity to see wind farms for themselves.
“It opened their eyes,” he said.
“Sometimes we have not seen the technology, we have some questions and concerns, by being there in person you can tell there was a lot of learning.”
All expense paid ” JUNKET ”
it took 30 to go see! whadda….
Ah yes, the climate emergency. A must. To have huge wind turbines to make a few rich with the always one sided contracts. While others suffer with health problems to the point they must move away from wind turbines. Or stuck to pay the unreliable, dirty electricity to clean electricity high prices. And wildlife removes itself, far, far away. And birds cannot calculate the high speed of the turning blades, then chopped downed by the thousands.
But no problem because health Canada just says wind turbines are just an annoyance which differs greatly from what the European Acoustics Association Technical Committee on Noise says about wind turbines.
Funny not… The Climate cult has no problem sacrificing what they say are saving. So why not keep on supporting global tax theft and the UN 2030 agenda without question? Keep on pouring in the money to the green cult and not for health, housing or improving standard of living.
Yeah, why care if C02 levels are at extreme lows today? Meaning it’s not at a beneficial level for human survival? The levels need to be higher, much higher.
So of course it’s great to put up Wind Industrial Factories in the north and the arctic when the hard push now on is to stop eating meat to save the planet. Makes for a nice easy way to push away caribou to make it harder and for long, long travel to find them.
Why smart countries around the world are abandoning Wind Turbines at a rapid rate after 2 or more decades trying to make wind turbines work. But Wind Turbines remain unreliable, expensive, create expensive electricity and produce serious health problems for humans and wildlife.
Must be installed outside community, other wise it will cause my grain Headaches from the turbine sound.