Ontario passed its Green Energy Act yesterday, hailed by some as one of the most progressive in the country because it establishes a feed-in tariff for new renewable electricity generation.
A feed-in tariff provides different prices for different types of power generation, and experts say it's a policy that could be used in British Columbia to promote smaller, diversified and community-based generation.
BC Hydro has a standing offer program, which is aimed at small power projects (under 10 MW) but the price does not vary depending on the type of technology. So far the only project delivering energy under the program is a small run-of-river project on Vancouver Island.
In a Tyee article on feed-in tariffs published last year, energy analyst Paul Gipe, who helped develop Ontario's version of the standing offer program, said the price for renewable energy would have to be higher in order to reflect the cost of the technology.
Nicholas Heap of the David Suzuki Foundation said the same: "If the point...is to build a renewable energy sector in B.C., that needs to be achieved with different prices to make different technologies available."
Ontario's Green Energy Act isn't without its critics. The Progressive Conservation opposition argued the bill will amount to extra costs for consumers. Some environmentalists also wonder how effective the act will be, given Ontario's current energy plan. It calls for half the province's supply to come from nuclear generation.
Next month, Energy Minister George Smitherman will decide whether or not to replace or refurbish the Pickering nuclear station, which is scheduled to come offline in 2013. That decision will steer the direction of Ontario's energy plan.
"We've got a great Green Energy Act but it needs available grid space in order to grow," said Cherise Burda, the Pembina Institute's Ontario policy director.
"We're recommending that the minister makes a decision to shut down the station and replace the equivalent capacity with green energy. It's absolutely feasible to put that much green energy on the grid. There is 2,000 MW coming from Pickering...and the OPA [Ontario Power Authority] found that there was 15,000 MW of green energy in various stages of development right now."
Colleen Kimmett reports for The Hook.
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Rob_
2 years ago
BC Hydro's program
BC Hydro actually has two programs for small scale distributed generation.
Net-metering for 0 to 50 kW systems
and
The Standard Offer Program for 50 kW to 10 MW
Although only there has been only one project under the Standard Offer Program there have been 57 projects under net-metering.
Luke Skywalker
2 years ago
Ontario - Green IPP's
And that's mostly all IPP power. The same stuff that Manitoba Hydro under the NDP is also producing.
None of that loony left non-IPP ideology interferes with decisions in those two provinces.
Dan the socialist
2 years ago
This should of been done
This should of been done 30-40 years ago.
It is too little to late now. We have passed the point of no return. We needed far more aggressive measures years ago but greed, capitalism and consumerism got in the way, plus the majority of people do not want to change. If people did, they would of elected politicians that would do something instead of catering to the whims of the like of dirty oil, mining etc...
Yet when things look grim in 10-20 years down the road, we will try to change at the last minute but it won't help anything as it has been far too late.
Humans really are a 'sad' 'pathetic' 'destructive' 'greedy' species..
dave49
2 years ago
The reality....
The reality is that as Canada's most populous province, Ontario has a huge electrical system. For years, CANDU nuclear reactors have produced about half the province's power.
What percentage will 'green power' contribute? One or two percent?
Another strategy would have been to aggressively ratchet up efficiency standards for electricity-using appliances and buildings to reduce demand. But, that should have been done more than 20 years ago.
Further, a few years ago, Ontario committed to continue using nuclear as a major power source. The cost will be staggering, as will be the cost of refurbishing existing plants. That favorite government-connected Quebec company, SNC-Lavalin, pretty well owns the business now. Do some Internet research and you will read about refurbishments that have gone grossly over budget and schedule, just like building the original reactors.
The 1950s promise/dream for nuclear was power "so cheap we won't have to meter it." Five years ago, I was told by someone who did planning work for Ontario Hydro that for internal planning purposes they assumed nuclear-generated electricity cost $0.12 per KWh. (that's about what BC Hydro is paying for controversial run-of-river power)
I'm amazed this is not a big scandal in Ontario. Half their power comes from a source that is more expensive that what they sell the power for!
dave49
2 years ago
Lily pond parable
There is a pond where water lilies are introduced. The water lilies double the area they cover each day. They will cover the surface of the pond in 30 days. At what point will the pond be half covered?
Most people will quickly answer, the 15th day, but that is wrong.
It is the 29th day, because of the effect of compound growth (doubling).
The parable illustrates that if you don't recognize a problem until the 29th day, there is very little time to respond. Effectively, you are looking at at crisis management response.
Foresight is something we need, but has little value to business and government.