Energy Minister Brad Duguid said 40 contracts have been offered for new renewable projects that will be built in the next one to three years.

Thirty-five of the projects are solar, four are wind and the other is a small hydroelectric facility.

While critics focused on the cost of the new projects, Duguid said the investments would pay dividends into the future.

“We have a responsibility to move this province forward,” he told reporters. “We need to build a more prosperous future for the next generation. And we owe it to them to build a cleaner, healthier province.”

Environmentalists compared the new wind and solar farms announced Thursday to the construction of dams at Niagara Falls nearly a century ago.

The Canadian Press

May 14, 2009 at 12:00 PM EDT

TORONTO — New legislation promising to create thousands of jobs and make more room for renewable energy has passed in the legislature.

The Green Energy Act is being touted as a key piece of legislation that will transform the province’s struggling economy.

It passed in a 59 to 13 vote, despite opposition from the Progressive Conservatives.

They have long argued that some of the measures in the act amount to extra costs for already strapped consumers.

Energy Minister George Smitherman says the bill will make it easier to bring renewable energy projects online.

by Dianne Saxe

As Public Affairs for the Environmental Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association, I had the privilege of organizing and editing the OBA’s comments on the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, Bill 150. On the whole, we strongly support the Bill, but have pointed out a number of areas that require clarification.

Mar 12, 2009 07:48 PM

Tyler Hamilton
Energy Reporter

Renewable energy in Ontario got a massive boost Thursday with the proposal of a fixed-price plan that, by June, could see the province paying out generous premiums to large and small generators of green power.

The premiums – called advanced feed-in tariffs – are what the government guarantees to pay over the life a 20-year contract with sellers of electricity produced from the sun, wind, water and biomass, regardless of project size.

Under the proposed plan, the first of its kind on the continent, homeowners who put solar power systems on their rooftops will be able to fetch more than 80 cents for every kilowatt-hour sold into the grid, roughly 13 times the going rate for electricity.

Farmers turning cow manure into power-producing methane will get as much as 15 cents, while developers of offshore wind projects will get 19 cents. Prices are tailored to the types of green energy being produced and project sizes. Developers of smaller projects will generally get a higher premium than developers of large projects.

Highlights:

* 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for rooftop solar.
* 19 cents for offshore wind of any size (first jurisdiction in N.A. to set price)
* 13.5 cents for onshore wind of any size
* 14.7 for biogas under 5 MW.
* 44.3 cents for 10-MW-plus solar, sliding to 71.3 cents as projects scale down to 10 kilowatts.

by Dianne Saxe

One great feature of the Green Energy Act will be freeing renewable energy projects from the current straightjacket of Ministry of the Environment rules on “waste”. Biogas facilities, for example, are currently labeled as “waste disposal sites” instead of energy generation facilities. This has numerous adverse consequences, and makes it very difficult to site them. Most municipalities have restrictive, if any, zoning for waste disposal sites.

Obama’s proposed budget anticipates about $80 billion in auction revenue in 2011 (Table S-6). Starting from this figure and some reasonable assumptions, its quite simple to get an approximate carbon price. (While we can hope for dramatically reduced emissions before the first year the plan takes affect, it seems unlikely.) The Obama plan explicitly calls for auctioning off 100 percent of the emissions permits, so we can get an approximate price of a permit by dividing the $80 billion auction revenue by current U.S. emissions.

With 2006 numbers for CO2 emissions, the Obama carbon price is $14.30 per metric ton of CO2. I don’t know about you, but I don’t buy my energy by the ton of CO2. Here is what $14.30 per ton would do to common energy costs*:

Effect of the Obama carbon price**

* Petroleum fuels: adds 15¢/gallon
* Electricity: adds 0.8¢/kWhr (compare to 7-10¢/kWhr residential rates)
* Natural gas: adds 8¢/therm (compare to 85¢/therm residential rates)

In other words, energy prices would increase by about 10 percent. Its a start, but a very slow one.

“Through a 100 percent auction to ensure that the biggest polluters do not enjoy windfall profits, this program will fund vital investments in a clean energy future totaling $150 billion over 10 years, starting in Fy 2012. The balance of the auction revenues will be returned to the people, especially vulnerable families, communities, and businesses to help the transition to a clean energy economy.”

http://www.our-opportunity.com/