An Ontario group that compiles reports of troubles with wind farms has claimed that wind power companies have spent $1.75 million to buy six homes in Dufferin County. According to the report, these six families had found their homes unlivable after wind farms began operations, and all were required to sign gag orders as part of their buy-outs. Given the gag orders, hard information on the distances from each home to operating turbines is not fully available, but from limited personal communication with folks in the area, it appears that the homes ranged from 700m to 2.5km from the turbines (just under a half mile to just over 1.5 miles).
UPDATE 11/09: According to Canadian Hydro Developers, only two of the homes were purchased due to noise issues; the others, the company says, were purchased during construction for company personnel, and will be resold. More on this in a recent article here.
December 16th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
[…] that home values can be reduced in close proximity to wind farms. In Ontario, a wind company bought several homes after neighbors complained about the […]
December 2nd, 2011 at 5:23 pm
[…] than as violating specific wind farm operational guidelines. This settlement is but the latest of quite a few situations in which wind developers felt it made more sense to buy property or otherwise […]
January 21st, 2012 at 1:01 pm
[…] than as violating specific wind farm operational guidelines. This settlement is but the latest of quite a few situations in which wind developers felt it made more sense to buy property or otherwise […]
July 4th, 2013 at 1:36 pm
[…] values reduced by the town by about 10%. Developers of two different wind farms in Ontario – one of the Dufferin County farms and one in Ripley – have purchased several homes from neighbors after they found noise of the […]