Industrialization of rural communities by wind turbines, battery storage rejected by multiple communities

As wind power developers prepared to submit proposals to the Independent Electricity Sysem Operator or IESO for contracts for new power generation projects, Ontario’s rural communities got down to business too: the business of defending their communities, and protecting from industrialization and environmental impacts.

As many as 20 proposals came forward (there is no public registry), and as of December 2025, it looked like only one might have gone forward to the submission phase, with others being delayed, and many outright rejected by municipal votes. Proponents must now have municipal approval before they file a submission with the IESO.

There are too many to detail here (see our earlier post on 2025), but notable ones included a project at South Algonquin which would have put huge, noisy industrial wind turbines adjacent to national historic site Algonquin Park—that project disappeared in just eight days, after the community learned of it.

Another proponent had designed a project that would have encompassed three municipalities, although the proponent admitted he was just the assembler and would not be actually developing the project. Details were sparse, his reputation was questionable, and the municipalities all voted NO—they already had wind turbines.

In fact, most of the municipalities saying No already had wind turbines and it’s safe to say the experience has not been a good one. At present, 159 Ontario municipalities have passed resolutions to denote themselves as an Unwilling Host. Several of these occurred during the RFP process.

Even Chatham-Kent, which has more than 500 operating turbines, turned its back on two proposals after multiple community meetings and a final incendiary council meeting which featured an hour of citizen presentations. (See our account here.) That municipality has seen problems with well water being affected as power developers built over a fragile aquifer; citizens were also concerned about more Ontario farmland being lost to development.

In a new twist, proposals for battery energy storage systems or BESS were also seen. Many were approved as municipalities accepted the IESO’s forecast for energy demand and claims that battery storage would even out the power supply, but several other communities rejected them.

In Ottawa, for example, where the vast majority of the city is rural but the population is urban, resulting in an urban-dominant council, there were three proposals for battery storage, and all three were accepted. Two were planned for land zoned industrial while another was slated for farmland in West Carleton.

The West Carleton proposal by Brookfield/Evolugen followed the old wind power developer playbook: don’t let anyone know about the project until the last minute, hold community presentations, not actual community meetings, and lobby hard. The community rallied quickly. Here is an account of the work done in 2025, one year after the plans became known. (West Carleton BESS, on Facebook, January 10, 2026)

It has officially been one year since Evolugen-directed surveyors entered our farm without notice on a Wednesday afternoon, crossing four property lines in the process. When questioned, they quietly admitted that no one was supposed to know about a proposed Battery Energy Storage Facility because, in their words, the landowners likely didn’t want anyone to know.

That moment changed everything.

What began as confusion quickly became clarity. What could have divided us instead galvanized us.

While Evolugen, Brookfield Renewables, and Syntax Strategic may have disrupted our community, they also did something they likely never intended: they united us. Across roads, backgrounds, professions, and perspectives we all gathered around a shared purpose.

In just one year, this community has accomplished extraordinary things:

• Submitted the third-largest petition against a development application in Ottawa in the past decade
• Built heightened awareness of unusual activity in our area
• Fostered acceptance and collaboration among neighbours from all walks of life, because this issue affects all of us
• Launched a highly visible and successful sign campaign
• Delivered two powerful, packed ARAC appearances, likely contributing to one of the longest ARAC meetings on record
• Brought neighbours together through winter petition signings, creating connection during the darkest months
• Turned out in huge numbers for the Open House, where community members uncovered critical issues, including the unauthorized use of the Ottawa Fire Service logo
• Held Evolugen accountable at a Town Hall for over 90 minutes, exposing glaring gaps and contradictions
• Organized an email campaign to the Mayor regarding the MSR
• Discovered that a disbarred engineer was representing the project at ARAC
• Built connections with people around the world facing the very same fight

And these are just a few highlights. Perhaps the most powerful part of this entire journey is how it began: with this [Facebook]page. Created quickly, out of urgency, simply to share information and connect people… it became a catalyst. From it, neighbourhoods formed their own working groups. Farmers began coordinating to protect farmland. Individuals launched independent initiatives. People with shared interests found one another and took action.

While Ontario communities put on an amazing effort, they also demonstrated flaws in the IESO process: as one Chatham-Kent farmer put it at the Council meeting in October, “the IESO does not respect farming.” There are glaring inconsistencies in eligibility of siting, and the bias is clearly toward the power (or battery) developers.

One developer after another told councils the reason they didn’t have details on their proposals was because until they got municipal approval, it wasn’t worth their while to do studies and present detailed reports. Which meant, municipalities were being asked to approve multi-million-dollar power projects that would last 20, 40 even 50 years, on the barest of details.

“This is political,” said a member of Chatham-Kent staff.

We say again, this is not 2009: the people of Ontario are well informed on wind turbines, and know wind power is unreliable, expensive, and not a good fit for Ontario.

Another RFP is scheduled for 2026. We expect the same reaction of rural communities that treasure the environment and their farmland.