Category Archives: Renewable energy

Electricity in Ontario: higher cost, lower reliability

26 Monday May 2014

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Here from Ottawa-based energy economist Robert Lyman, a commentary on how Ontario’s electricity system has evolved. (You may also wish to read a letter in today’s Ottawa Citizen by wind industry lobby group the Canadian Wind Energy Association president Robert Hornung, who would have us believe wind power is the cheapest source of power available. )

For most of Ontario’s history, the official energy policy of successive provincial governments was generally the same. The Province sought to keep electricity prices as low as possible consistent with the goal of ensuring that Ontario consumers and industry had secure and reliable sources of supply. With the election of a Liberal government in 2003, the goal changed. Since then, the Government has raised electricity costs significantly, emphasizing reliance on expensive industrial wind turbines, solar plants and biomass for generation, and using higher rates to force consumers to cut back on their energy use.

The consequences of those policies have been a doubling of residential electricity rates and the ever-increasing share of renewable energy generation as part of the provincial electricity generation mix. According to data from the Ontario Power Authority, in 2014 biomass, industrial wind turbines and solar plants will provide about four per cent of Ontario electricity supply, but will cost consumers $1.933 billion dollars, or 17 per cent, of the total generation cost. The amount of renewable energy brought on line is expected to increase significantly by 2018, adding further to the costs.

The Ontario Long Term Energy Plan, published in December 2013, included a table projecting what this will mean for the average residential customer who consumes 800 KWh of electricity per month. Taking into account the costs of electricity generation, transmission, distribution, taxes and related regulatory charges, the average monthly bill will rise from $125 in 2013 to 181 in 2020, a 45 per cent increase. Large industrial users will see their rates rise from $79 per MWh in 2013 to $104 in 2020, a 32 per cent increase.

These increases do not take into the account the significant costs associated with having to provide significant back up capacity because the wind and solar plants are “intermittent” sources of supply. This means that they usually produce energy when it is not needed, and production from these plants cannot be varied to accommodate changes in demand.  Ontario generation capacity now exceeds demand, and the Green Energy and Economy Act requires that renewable energy sources be given preferential access to the provincial grid over lower cost conventional supplies. The increases in rates do not take account of the cost of curtailing operations at existing plants or of losses on export sales. In 2013 this was about $1 billion.

So, do Ontario residents at least get more secure electricity supplies as a result of all these increased costs? The answer lies in…

Please read the rest of Mr LYman’s article here: ONTARIO ELECTRICITY – High Prices, Low Reliability

Wind and solar power: the hidden costs

20 Tuesday May 2014

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Wind power: not free

Wind power: not free

Here, from Ottawa-based energy-specialist economist Robert Lyman, a quick look at what many people don’t know (and aren’t getting told by the government or the wind power lobby) about the costs of generating power from wind and solar.

A must-read.

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF ONTARIO RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION 

Ontario residents can be forgiven if they fail to understand the public debate during the current (2014) provincial election about the costs of different types of electricity generation and why these have caused electricity rates for consumers to rise so much over the past ten years. The complexity of the system makes it difficult to explain the costs associated with one source of supply, namely the renewable energy generation  (industrial wind turbines and solar power generators). In this note, I will nonetheless try to explain in layperson’s terms why these costs are significant.

Electricity supply in Ontario takes place within the framework of the policy and legislative framework established by the Ontario government, an important part of which is the Green Energy and Economy Act of 2009 (GEA). Historically, the goal of Ontario electricity policy was to keep electricity rates for consumers as low as possible consistent with the goal of maintaining adequate and reliable supply. Within the current framework, however, that is no longer the goal. The GEA seeks to stimulate investment in renewable energy projects (such as wind, solar, hydro, biomass and biogas) and to increase energy conservation.  To do this, it:

  • Changed the review process for renewable energy projects to reduce environmental assessment and hasten approvals
  • Created a Feed-in-Tariff that the Independent Electricity Systems Operator (IESO) must pay, guaranteeing the specific rates for energy generated from renewable sources (typically, the rates are fixed for the full term of the twenty year contracts, with inflation escalators)
  • Established the right to connect to the electricity grid for renewable energy projects and gave renewable energy source preferential access over other sources of generation
  • Implemented a “smart” grid to support the development of renewable energy projects
  • Eliminated local approval requirements that local governments previously could impose on renewable energy projects

The guaranteed rates paid under the FIT system are not negotiated based upon the actual costs of production. In fact, the actual costs of production are largely unknown. …

Read the full analysis here: THE HIDDEN COSTS OF ONTARIO RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION

Horwath in Sarnia: still believes in wind farms

16 Friday May 2014

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The NDP has not released its official platform yet for the election, and has been sparing with details, especially on the energy sector. Some clues may be had, however, in this report from Sarnia where the NDP leader appeared yesterday. She was greeted by sign-bearing members of WAIT-PW/We’re Against Wind Turbines-Plympton Wyoming, a community that is facing multiple turbines.

Here is the report from the Sarnia Observer:

Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer, May 16, 2014

Horwath talked about electricity when her campaign bus stopped next to the St. Clair River and the Blue Water Bridge Friday morning after a meet-and-greet the night before at the Ups ‘N’ Downs pub downtown where she was greeted by anti-wind turbine protestors.

A 92-turbine wind project is current under construction in Lambton County, and another 46-turbine project is awaiting provincial environmental approval.

Both have led to protests by opponents of wind energy and the province’s Green Energy Act.

“We believe that the Liberals have made a mess of the green energy sector, as well,” Horwath said.

“It’s a sad day in Ontario when we have families pitted against each other, when we have neighbours pitted against each other, when we have communities pitted against each other.”

Renewable energy is something most people believe is a good thing but the Liberals decided to shut down community participation, “ignore the voices of local residents and rammed through projects,” Horwath said.

“That’s a wrong-headed way of doing things.”

She said the NDP believes there’s no need to call in international companies to get green energy up and running in Ontario. Instead, Horwath said she would encourage municipalities, farm co-ops and First Nations to develop projects that are scaled to their communities and benefit local residents.

“Instead we have this situation that has pitted people against each other,” she said.

“Its very divisive and, frankly, is a failure of the Liberals.”

Read the full story here.

More turbines planned for south of Ottawa

14 Wednesday May 2014

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We’ve seen this before: wind power developments start off with a few turbines and then become dozens, or as in the case of Armow, 45 turbines became over 90.

In this month’s edition of the AgriBusiness News is a report on the wind power development at Brinston, which was started by Prowind, and is now owned by U.S.-based EDP Renewables.

Brinston turbines plug in for pay

Carolyn Thompson Goddard

The AgriNews May 2014, page 4

BRINSTON: It’s official–the South Branch wind farm in Brinston is on the grid.

Ken Little of EDP Renewables Canada Ltd. told The AgriNews that as of March 4, the Commercial Operating Date granted by the Ontario Power Authority, the project’s 10 wind turbines were producing a combined total of up to 30 megawatts. [sic. Editor’s note: we think the writer means producing power]

An on-site substation changes the power frim 34.5 to 44 kilovolts, which allows it to travel to a Morrisburg substation on Flegg Road, and onto the grid.

According to Little, at peak construction there were over 105 people on site, but presently on average there are 10 workers completing this phase. In April, a team will begin site acclamation [? Ed note: reclamation?] which should take about a month.

During a site tour March 14, Little provided information on the Siemens wind turbines deployed at the site. He explained there are a number of regulations governing the noise level (which can’t exceed 40 db) location of the tower (minimum of 550 meters from human habitation) and require a number of scientific studies that need to be completed prior to construction. A drive in the Brinston area allows one to see the standing towers producing electricity from their long rotating blades.

Little told The AgriBusiness News it had been a very windy week so there had been a lot of testing done at the site. While it didn’t appear too windy at ground level on Friday, March 14, the wind speed up above turned the blades at 10-12 revolutions per minute–just short of the 14 rpm maximum–the tips soaring more than 500 feet at their highest point.

Standing at the base of a tower, a slight whistling sound was heard but no other noise was detectable.

The towers are located on land leased for 20 years–the life of the EDP contract–from local landowners. EDP will receive 13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour produced.

If the contract is not renewed, the towers would be removed and the land returned to its original condition , with access roads left for the use of the owner if so desired.

The wind farm is located on land already under cultivation. Little explained .75 to 1.5 acres were used per turbine and that farmers could till up to the edge of the access road and boundary ring around the turbine itself.

Little confirmed there are negotiations set to begin with the Municipality of South Dundas and the Township of North Stormont for the construction of additional wind farms in those townships.

With talk of a provincial election in the air, the project’s Houston Texas-based developer appears undaunted by the stance of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives. The official opposition party promises to review existing wind and solar operations and impose a moratorium on new ones if elected.

Editor’s notes:

First, these are power generation projects, not wind “farms.”

Other points:

-the quietest place to be is exactly below a wind turbine; the noise and infrasound can be experienced as far as 3 km

-the noise level in the regulations is 40 decibels or dB on AVERAGE: that means there are some very noisy days (and nights) allowed

-the significant problem with turbines is sound pressure; the province does not have any regulations pertaining to infrasound or sound pressure and will not even have a protocol for measurement until 2015

-at 13.6 cents a kilowatt, EDP is reaping the benefits of provincial subsidies, paid for by Ontario electricity customers–that is over $10 million a year, or $200 million over the life of the contract

-the amount of land used for the wind project is under-estimated

-the land can NEVER be returned to its original state: the concrete foundation remains

-the PCs are saying they will not fulfill wind power contracts which are not already constructed–no one said they will stop existing operating projects

Letters to the Editor of AgriBusiness News may be sent to rm@agrinewsinteractive.com

 

Ashton farmer sells everything; electricity bills too high

11 Sunday May 2014

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Ashton farm sold when local profits couldn’t keep up with hydro bills

By Brandy Harrison, farmersforum.com

May, 2014

ASHTON — It’s a done deal: the store is empty, the equipment auctioned off, and the farm signed away. Ashton beef farmer Rick Hobbs has quit full-time farming and is putting at least some of the blame on soaring electricity costs.

“Our hydro was more than what we were bringing in. It came down to a choice: do we pay the hydro or do we pay the mortgage?” says Hobbs, who ditched commercial beef sales for an on-farm store stocked with beef, a bakery, and restaurant south of Ottawa in 2010.

Local beef sales shot up quickly but began to tail off about a year ago when he said he lost customers to cheaper grocery store prices. At the same time, he worried his wife, Chris, the primary cook and baker for the restaurant, was burning out.

He closed the store for good at the end of March and sold the farm late last month to a buyer from Richmond, who will wait until September to move in his heavy horses and construction equipment. The store, house, barn, outbuildings, four Cover-Alls, and 92 acres were originally on the market for $950,000 but Hobbs dropped the price to $799,000.

Soaring hydro rates just cemented the decision to sell, says Hobbs.

The power was cut off for the better part of a day at -33 C in late January when he was a day late paying the bill because of a snowstorm. The next monthly bill shot up by an extra $1,400. Hobbs says he didn’t get a satisfactory answer as to why.

Since word got out that electricity costs played a part in the sale, Hobbs says he has fielded 15 to 20 calls from people, including some farmers, in similar situations.

 

Read the full story here.

See related story, on opening of the Hobbs’ on-farm store, in 2011.

Election goal: unseat Ontario’s Minister of Energy

06 Tuesday May 2014

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Ottawa West-Nepean candidates are familiar rivals

Bob Chiarelli faces off against Randall Denley and Alex Cullen

CBC News Posted: May 06, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: May 06, 2014 2:57 PM ET

NDP candidate Alex Cullen, left, and Progressive Conservative Randall Denley, right, are both familiar foes of current MPP and Liberal energy minister Bob Chiarelli, centre.

Residents in Ottawa West-Nepean could be forgiven for forgetting which election they were voting in when they cast their ballots on June 12, as three men equally known for their roles in municipal politics battle in the Ontario riding.

Related links:

Former mayor and current Liberal energy minister Bob Chiarelli again faces off against former Ottawa Citizen city hall columnist Randall Denley, the candidate for the Progressive Conservatives he beat in 2011. Joining them in the race this time is another familiar face from city hall: former Bay Ward councillor Alex Cullen, who is representing the New Democratic Party.

But all three candidates say their campaigns will be focused firmly on the issues today facing the province and the riding.

Chiarelli to campaign on budget

Chiarelli said he and his party will campaign on their recently released budget, which both the NDP and Progressive Conservatives said they would not support.

The budget called for the province to spend $130 billion over a 10-year period, another $11.4 billion on hospital expansion and laid out plans to establish an Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.

After NDP leader Andrea Horwath said she had lost confidence in the minority government of Kathleen Wynne and signalled she would not support the budget, Wynne went to Lt.-Gov. David Onley to dissolve the legislature, triggering the election.

Denley, who lost to Chiarelli by just over 1,000 votes in the 2011 election, said people he’s spoken with this weekend are most concerned about their high power bills.

“Of course I’m running against the energy minister, and people understand that and they’re not very happy with it,” said Denley.

…

Read the full story here.

Global “warmists”: how far do they want us to go?

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

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In Canada we hear about global warming and climate change but the rhetoric seldom goes to the extremes seen in other areas. Economist Robert Lyman, who advised the federal government on issues pertaining to energy, transportation and the environment for 37 years, reviews the situation in this paper.

An excerpt:

In April 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.N. body well known for its faulty projections of global temperatures rising, issued yet another report claiming that the science of climate change is “settled” and irrefutable. It also issued a report on the mitigation measures that countries should take. The IPCC’s goal, as approved by governments in 2010, is to avoid a rise in global temperature to no more than two degrees Celsius by the end of the century. To achieve this, they estimate that greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere must be kept below 450 parts per million (ppm) and the world must stay within a carbon “budget” of about 1000 billion tons of CO2 to 2010.

The IPCC report followed, but was closely related to, the 2013 report of Carbon Tracker, a U.K.-based organization allied with a number of “ethical” investment funds. Carbon Tracker’s report, entitled Unburnable Carbon 2013, compared the carbon budget to the amount of carbon present in the world already proven reserves of coal, oil and natural gas. Its conclusion was that those current reserves totaled almost 3000 billion tons, three times the allegedly available budget.

The recommendations coming out of these two organizations today don’t even make it to the back pages of the financial sections of the newspapers, but they are making their insidious ways through the governments of western countries as they prepare for the next Climate Change “Meeting of the Parties” in 2015. We ignore this at our risk.

Read the full paper here: WHERE THE CLIMATE WARMISTS WANT TO TAKE US NEXT

No ‘safe hands’ here: 5 ways the Ontario Liberals are messing up the economy

28 Monday Apr 2014

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Five ways the Ontario Liberals are messing with the province’s economy

Scott Stinson, National Post, April 28, 2014

Kathleen Wynne has spoken repeatedly in the past month about how her Liberals are the only party to be trusted with the fortunes of a province that is still unsteady on its economic feet.

Ontario, the Premier has said, needs her “safe hands” to guide it through its recovery, not those “reckless schemes” of the two parties in opposition.

Other Liberals have picked up the thread. In blasting the NDP for its demand of increased corporate tax rates, Transportation Minister Glen Murray last week said the province, “is emerging from the global recession. However, our recovery remains fragile.”

Add a couple of seafaring metaphors about troubled seas, and the comments were perfectly in line with what the federal Conservatives were touting in the 2011 election: now isn’t the time to mess about with our delicate economic recovery.

Except there is a key difference: the Ontario Liberals are furiously messing with the economy.

On Thursday, after the federal Tories announced plans to tinker with public pensions, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa all but rolled his eyes at the proposal and insisted that the province will forge ahead with an Ontario-only enhancement to the Canada Pension Plan. It is fair to say a debate remains over whether a CPP top up is needed, and if so whether a mandatory plan as envisioned for Ontario is the solution. But there is little such debate in the business community.

“It’s going to have a devastating impact,” Nicole Troster, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Business, said in an interview. Among the key concerns for the CFIB, Ms. Troster said, is that mandatory pension contributions are essentially a profit-insensitive tax. Even struggling businesses would be hit with a new, additional cost. Other business groups have lined up to express concern over the Liberal proposal: the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Certified General Accountants of Ontario, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Read the full story here and see the Liberal Party’s new ad.

Excerpt Re: hydro rates:

Hydro rates

The Liberals announced this week that they plan to remove the Debt Retirement Charge from the bills of residential electricity users in 2016. It will remain on those of businesses for another two years after that. Further, while the government is expanding plans to allow companies to switch to time-of-use billing, many of them couldn’t take advantage of the option, even if they were large enough to qualify.

“A lot of our members,” Ms. Troster of the CFIB says, “don’t have a way to switch their energy usage.” Businesses are often neither open nor staffed during non-peak hours, when energy is cheapest. And with hydro rates in Ontario having doubled since 2008, and scheduled to rise further, electricity is “the most important cost concern for our members over the last two years,” she says.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

 

Parker Gallant: the Liberal shell game on hydro bills

28 Monday Apr 2014

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The Liberals’ promise of ‘significant relief’ on power bills: a closer look

The April 2014 Liberal event calendar has had a minimum of an event a day, including the Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli’s delivering a message on how the government plans to help small and medium Ontario business deal with electricity bills. The event was held at Giant Tiger’s HO in Ottawa.

Energy

Bob Chiarelli and friends: did they look at the numbers, really?

These daily announcements are leading up to the budget presentation on May 1st which is widely expected to trigger an election.

Not once in the 27-minute podcast did the Minister mention “Timmies” coffee in the context of either what it would cost ratepayers or how much it would reduce hydro bills for those small and medium sized companies. But what he did was to spin the bad news electricity story: first they rob Peter and Paul to pay wind and solar developers, and when Paul becomes vocal you rob more from Peter to pay Paul. As soon as Peter laments, you tell him you have a plan to give him a break and you simply stick Paul with higher rates. Then, while you are telling Peter he will soon get a break, you rob the company that employs him so they can no longer afford to hire Paul. Shortly after that the company laments that they may have to lay Peter off so you rob even more from Peter and Paul, so that they will be able to keep Peter on staff and may even be able to afford to hire Paul.

Should you decide to watch Chiarelli’s podcast you’ll see he doesn’t make it quite that simple. Instead, he talks about “pillars,” points and electricity acronyms like “IEI” (Industrial Electricity Incentive) or “ICI” (Industrial Conservation Initiative) programs. Like the other promises of prosperity coming daily from the government, the benefits are all in the future. Only one of his suggestions came with a specified time (2015). That was one that will instruct your local distribution company (LDC) to become a lending institution! They will be told to provide financing for “up-front capital costs” associated with “conservation programs.” Needless to say this and the other programs will be financed by other ratepayers via the Global Adjustment (GA).

The day before, the announcement was about ending the Debt Retirement Charge (DRC) at the end of 2015, and was clearly aimed at residential ratepayers (people who vote). Premier Wynne said it would bring “significant rate relief.” The DRC will continue to be collected until 2018 from those to whom Minister Chiarelli promised relief too, from his perch at Giant Tiger. By the end of December 2015 we will have paid $15.5 billion to retire the original $7.8 billion of “Residual Stranded Debt” but they want more, so they will take about $1 billion from most commercial and industrial clients before they will finally declare it paid—evidence of the Liberal trick of robbing Peter to pay Paul!

“Significant relief”?

Let’s look at Wynne’s “significant rate relief” claim. Just one year ago the Ontario Energy Board announced a rate increase that cost the “average” ratepayer $3.63 a month or $44 annually, and followed that with another increase in November raising rates by $4.00 a month or $48 annually. The more recent increase of April 14, 2014 saw another increase of $2.83 a month or $34 annually, and those announcements didn’t include rate increases for the “delivery” or “regulatory” lines on our bills, which also increased. So, in just one year the electricity rates jumped $126 annually and Wynne’s announced rate relief won’t happen until the end of 2015. That’s the year the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit (OCEB) ends. The OECB reduces the average bill by $13.30 per month or $160 annually. The “average” bill (electricity only) at the start of 2016 will be $286 higher on an annual basis than it was as of April 30, 2013. Adding the HST brings the increase to $323.
We should also expect additional increases from the OEB’s scheduled rate setting on December 1, 2014, May 1, 2015 and December 1, 2015; those add a minimum of $100/120 to our electricity line.

In other words, the average bill will have jumped by approximately $425/$450 by which time Wynne’s “significant rate relief” will become insignificant. Just as the annual DRC charge of $67 falls away, another scheduled charge from the Wednesday announcement (aimed at reducing energy poverty) of $11 will be added, so we may see a measly $56 decrease at that time.

25% increase in two years
The “average” ratepayer will have experienced an increase of over 25% in electricity prices in slightly more than 2 years by the time the December 31, 2015 date arrives. At that time our electricity costs will be charged out at over 21 cents per kilowatt (kWh). That only gets worse as more contracted wind and solar enter the grid. The price will rise further should OPG prove successful in their “significant” rate increase request now before the OEB. Add in increases expected in the “delivery” and “regulatory” lines, tack on HST and all-in costs will be in the neighbourhood of 30 cents a kWh! That average $133 monthly bill will suddenly be $240 and Ontario residents will be challenging Germany and Denmark for the privilege of having the most expensive rates in the industrialized world.

It seems the Liberal Ontario government has apparently abandoned the “Chiarelli” math (units are based on the price of a Tim Horton’s coffee) and have now moved on to a shell game. They tell us their management of the energy portfolio is constantly saving us money—you just have to look for the pea under the right shill, oops, I meant shell!

©Parker Gallant,
April 26, 2014

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent Wind Concerns Ontario policy.

MPAC report: NO effect on property values from wind turbines

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

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Well, what can you say about this. Realtors are telling us that buyers are saying, If I can see a turbine from the house, I’m not buying it. And Ontario-based research has shown significant property value loss for properties neighbouring wind power projects.

But the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (which reports to the Ontario Minister of Finance) says, No. No effect. No problem. No loss.

No kidding.

Read the report here but be aware it is pretty technical. It has to be, to avoid the obvious.

What MPAC left out is very interesting: they didn’t do the area prior to the Green Energy Act, where property value losses have already occurred and the market was distorted significantly, and they left off vacant lots, where the wind power developers have had to go in and buy houses that were rendered uninhabitable and were then removed. They also studied turbines 1.5 MW and larger, which again, leaves off the older turbines and the areas in Ontario where the impact has already been felt.

A number of people are offering critiques on this but here is an excellent commentary from the website Wind Farm Realities at:

http://windfarmrealities.org/mpacs-2012-study/

The MPAC study is self-serving, misleading, and obscuring of the truth. But it will serve its purpose for this government which is to quash requests for assessment reconsideration, and put a chill on legal actions and request from Assessment Review Board hearings.

Once again, the citizens of Ontario are at a disadvantage against Big Wind.