Wind generators don’t devalue homes

Having a wind turbine near your property does not devalue it — or at least there is no evidence to show it does — said an Ontario Superior Court Justice earlier this month.

The decision by Madam Justice S.E. Healey was used to dismiss a lawsuit by landowners who are opposing a proposed wind development.

The judgment said the case should not proceed to trial because “our law does not award damages without proof of an actionable wrong giving rise to liability.”

The Canadian Wind Energy Association not surprisingly welcomed the decision. CANWEA points out, for example, that the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation currently does not change property assessments on the basis of having a wind power project in view.

In 2010, Canning Consultants studied 83 properties in the Chatham-Kent region, reports CANWEA, and they found that even where wind farms were clearly visible, “there was no empirical evidence to indicate that rural residential properties realized lower sale prices than similar residential properties within the same area that were outside of the view shed of a wind turbine.”

Another study by the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also found that proximity to wind farms does not have a pervasive effect on home values. They examined 7,500 single-family roperties covering sales between 1996 and 2007.