The answer is blowin' in the wind

Canwindpower president Chris Kuntz looks at a model of a Darius wind turbine. Photo by Phil Novak, BayToday.ca.

Chris Kuntz doesn't blow with the wind when it comes to wind power.

Kuntz, an electricity consultant, would like to see 100 megawatts of wind power installed in the Nipissing district by 2007, and he plans to help make that happen through his North Bay firm Canwindpower.

Where we should be
Investors have provided Kuntz with his first round of financing and he’s ready to go out and hire staff as well as set up five meteorology stations and conduct virtual wind studies.

As well Kuntz’s company has signed leases for several thousand acres of land in areas including Powassan, Mattawa and Parry Sound, as well as a few properties in North Bay, where wind turbines will eventually be set up.

Kuntz believes 2007 remains a “realistic” goal to get everything up and running by.

“We’re where we should be,” he said.

“It takes only one year to gather adequate data and, if you have a good manufacturer on board, it takes only a year to have all materials delivered and foundations poured and the actual turbine towers going up.”

Environmental assessments could slow his plans, though, Kuntz concedes.

“Clearly there will be opponents to this type of development, and that may add a year or two to the process,” Kuntz said.

Investors tugging
But the 37-year-old isn’t just confining his efforts to Canada.

“I decided that the market inside Ontario just wasn’t moving fast enough in terms of development and I had four years of knowledge to offer in terms of business and finance,” Kuntz said.

“So I registered myself with some embassies in select countries where I thought there would be growth and out of that a proposed wind farm in Varna, Bulgaria is coming and also a small co-op wind farm in Costa Rica.”

Now he finds himself in the situation “where I have investors tugging at me to develop in Ontario while I’m simultaneously trying to develop these projects outside of the province.”

Steep decline
Kuntz decided to go into the wind power business after spending eight years as a geologist in the mining business, a job which took him to Mexico, Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia.

“Most of my time was spent living in canvas tents and flying around in helicopters with maps and surveying crews,” Kuntz said.

His plans changed though when he received his pink slip following a steep decline in the price of precious metals.

Lasting impression
Kuntz said he decided he had to get into an industry that had “infinite” growth potential, and his epiphany came in 1988 while he was on a train to Copenhagen to visit some friends.

“I remember specifically looking at some of the original turbines installed in Europe and thinking ‘that’s incredible, why don’t we have that in Canada?’” Kuntz said.

“It’s one of those visual things that just sort of stuck and made a lasting impression.”

He also wanted to go into a business where electricity production wouldn’t affect air quality “and where I would be provided with potential significant growth income and the opportunity to make a meaningful change for my children.”

Out of here
His first two or three years in business were rocky and he had friends and family—“people who I love deeply”—encourage him “to abandon all hope” and not follow through with his business plan “because there was no potential in their estimation.”

Kuntz also clashed with his own company board members.

“I wanted to see 50 large wind turbines here in North Bay, and the rest of the board members told me that it wasn’t possible, to which I said, ‘fine go and create your own board because I’m out of here,’” he said.

Go big
Kuntz sees the issue as going beyond economies of scale and more to his desire to bring long-term “meaningful” employment to North Bay and Nipissing.

“This isn’t about popping up five to 10 small little turbines and hoping to heck that this will stave off another blackout or that this will change the course of our energy supply and demand issues,” Kuntz said.

“My idea was to go big or go home.”

Form consortiums
Kuntz envisions a series of smaller wind farms rather than the thousands of turbines at Altamount Pass, the world’s largest wind farm, in Livermore, California, which has caused environmental concerns due to the number of machines in the same place.

He plans to bring in three to four other companies to form consortiums to build large wind farms, and hold five to 10 per cent ownership in each.

“I’m talking 20-to-50-megawatt wind farms,” Kuntz said.

“The test wind farm would have say, maybe, two machines, and the wind farm proper would have 20 1.8-megawatt machines, or 20 2.2 -megawatt machines.”

Most wonderful
Another company is already carrying out a wind power assessment and feasibility study for the city and North Bay Hydro Inc.

“That’s the most wonderful thing that has happened in this area in the five years I’ve been in business,” Kuntz said.

A staff report accepted by North Bay council in September said a 20-megawatt wind farm would cost $30 million to supply and build and would contain 30 65-metre turbine towers.

Icing on the cake
As wind power grows, Kuntz says, the demand for skilled labour will go along with it.

That’s why he has put together a proposal to build a wind power technology training school here in partnership with Canadore College and Nipissing University.

“I would like government funds to be available to secure us and our partners as being a premier destination for finance and infrastructure-building for wind power,” Kuntz said.

“The basis by which I’ve put this forward is that if we build it they will come. Companies that like to engage in this type of development like to see nothing more than a skilled workforce already in place, ready to be hired. That’s the icing on the cake.”