Ontario has so far approved thousands of green energy contracts, ranging in size from a few solar panels on the roof of a family home to industrial-scale projects, in which they agree to pay several times the going electricity rate for periods of up to 40 years. It has also signed a controversial $7-billion deal with a consortium led by South Korean giant Samsung that includes a massive investment in wind and solar electricity. The hope is that all the spending will seed a new green energy industry in Ontario (all projects must source a percentage of materials locally), creating some 50,000 new jobs in the process.
Tag Archives: Ontario Power Authority
Tim Hudak Calls For Municipalities to Have a Say on Industrial Wind Farms
Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Caucus will introduce a motion in the Ontario Legislature today calling on the McGuinty Government to restore planning authority to Ontario municipalities so that no industrial wind farm can be imposed on a community that does not want one.
Dalton McGuinty’s so-called ‘Green Energy Act’ allows the Toronto based energy bureaucrats at the Ontario Power Authority to arbitrarily place industrial wind farms anywhere in Ontario regardless of the views of the democratically elected local governments.
Municipalities across Ontario have expressed economic and environmental concerns about the wind farms that are being forced upon them under Dalton McGuinty’s so-called ‘Green Energy Act’.
Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak is calling on all Liberal Government members to support the motion and give back municipal governments’ ability to decide what is best for their own community.
Quotes:
“Dalton McGuinty’s so-called ‘Green Energy’ scheme will force Ontario families to pay more for industrial wind farms over which they have no control. This has little to do with the environment and everything to do with rewarding Dalton McGuinty’s friends at Samsung.”
— Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak
“If Dalton McGuinty’s plan for placing industrial wind farms in the backyards of Ontario communities was as popular as he pretends it is, he should not be afraid of supporting our PC motion and, once again, allowing Ontario municipalities to have their say.”
— Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak
Quick Facts:
– Schedule A of the Green Energy Act empowers the McGuinty Government
to overrule municipal by-laws and local concerns when locating
industrial wind farms.
– Municipalities across Ontario have passed resolutions expressing
significant concerns regarding the economic and environmental impact
of industrial wind turbine technology being forced on them through
the ‘Green Energy Act’.
For further information: Christine Bujold, (416) 325-1330, christine.bujold@pc.ola.org
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Wind power is unreliable, expensive and doesn’t result in lower C02 emmissions. Why is Ontario still rushing ahead with it?
Erie Shores Wind Farm
In October 2007, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) — the government’s own agency, tasked with planning Ontario’s power system and now entering into long-term contracts with renewable energy producers — published its Integrated Power System Plan, where it analyzed a “high wind power” scenario for the province, and concluded: “Since wind generation has an effective capacity of 20% compared to 73% for hydroelectric generation, additional generation capacity with better load-following characteristics would need to be installed.
“This needed capacity will likely have to be obtained by installing additional gas-fired generation. Thus, in addition to incurring further capital costs for the gas generation installation, higher gas usage would be expected to make up for the reduced amount of renewable energy from wind compared to that from hydroelectric generation or this alternative. Therefore, this alternative would result in higher greenhouse gas emissions.” The OPA concluded: “Wind and solar power will never be more than a niche supplier of power in Ontario.”
For an hour-by-hour comparison of generator output and capability, visit the IESO website. Scroll down to wind total. In particular for Elgin county, follow the meagre output from the Erie Shores Wind Farm near Port Burwell.
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Wind turbine farm generates controversy
Several planned wind turbines in the Strathroy area aren’t even up yet, but residents are already educating themselves as to the possible health hazards associated with them.
Over 200 people attended an information meeting hosted by the Middlesex Wind Action Group on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The gym at Adelaide W.G. MacDonald was standing room only.
At the heart of the issue is a proposed wind turbine farm that would see the construction of 40 turbines in Adelaide-Metcalfe Township. These are just some of the 128 wind turbines planned for this region.
Adelaide- W.G. MacDonald School is a located in the middle of the wind farm project proposed for the township.
Since 2006, Air Energy TCI Inc. (AET), The Canadian subsidiary of the UK based TCI Renewables, has been developing the Adelaide Wind Farm Project on nearly 7,000 acres of land within the township.
Officials with TCI hope to have the construction process started by 2011, and expect these turbines to be one of the first to receive an energy sales contract from Ontario Power Authority under the new Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program.
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Ontario’s big windy gamble. The province is betting on wind power, and critics are lining up.
Ontario is already North America’s friendliest jurisdiction for wind and other renewable energy projects, thanks to its recently proclaimed Green Energy Act, meant to speed along approval, and the establishment of European-style 20-year fixed-price energy contracts. (Power companies are now required to integrate all new green energy projects into their grids and pay producers 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour for onshore wind farms, 19 cents/kWh for offshore wind, and up to 80.2 cents/kWh for solar power, versus about six cents/kWh for both hydro and nuclear energy.) The province, which is committed to shutting down its coal-fired plants by 2014, will have 1,200 megawatts of wind power in operation by the end of this year, and there are 103 more “shovel ready” wind developments, totalling 3,263 MW, in the pipeline. The proliferation of giant turbines—80-m-tall towers with 40- to 45-m blades—is already nearing the 5,000 MW supply ceiling the Ontario Power Authority has said it can easily integrate into its aging grid. But soon, there will be no more limits. Smitherman is promising a series of major power infrastructure announcements in coming weeks that will not only make wind a much bigger part of Ontario’s energy mix, but open up vast new areas of the province to commercial wind development.
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