Apart from the proponents and the locations, about the only thing new about a public information open house at Honeywood this week for two small wind farms was the nature of ownership.

Posters at the upstairs room at Honeywood arena outlined the environmental screening process, just as they had at previous open houses for other proponents at Shelburne and Laurel - and most of the residents in attendance had been to the one in Shelburne, while some had been at both.

This time, though, one of the signs proclaimed that the projects - two wind farms at a maximum 10 megawatt capacity each - would be locally owned, by the landowners themselves.

The two projects, both under the umbrella of a company called 401 Energy, are separate corporate entities, and are at slightly different positions in the north of Melancthon Township.

The study area for Dufferin Wind Energy Ltd. is on the west side of the Mulmur- Melancthon Townline, between 20 Sideroad and the Osprey Townline.

The one for Melancthon High Wind Corp. is of an irregular shape between the Fourth and Eighth Lines Northeast, and north from County Rd. 21 to County Rd. 9.

Within the two study areas, it's rumoured that major land purchaser John Lowndes has acquired property. But Mr. Lowndes was not available for an interview, or might not have been present, at the open house.

Another longtime property owner, John Kidd, confirmed that he is among the landowners who would invest in the wind farms. He didn't know how many turbines might be on his property as the studies had not been completed, but said he would be making a down payment and paying the rest out of revenues - "just like farming, or anything else you buy."

A representative of Collins Consultants said the two wind farms would use German-built Enron turbines, which she described as of the most advanced design available.

Each turbine would have a two-megawatt nameplate capacity - larger than the ones in the Melancthon I plant.

As the projects are of only 10 megawatts maximum each, they would likely qualify under the Standard Offer Program (SOP), in which Ontario Power Authority would agree to purchase energy for 11 cents a kilowatt hour for 20 years, and the federal government would pay an incentive of one cent a kilowatt hour for the first 10 years of the project.

Paul Boreham, president of 401 Energy, said his company intends to act only as manager and minor shareholder in the SOP projects it is proposing.

"I believe the original intent of SOP was that local owners would take advantage of it." He said he didn't think the minister envisioned that the large players would consider 10- megawatt installations to take advantage of SOP.

"I believe we're honouring the intention of the legislation." He said the residents who attended the "predevelopment open house" were in agreement with the principles. As well, he said it was gratifying to find that the people were well informed, and had good suggestions for him.