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Tag Archives: Stewart Fast

Wind farms in Nation, North Dundas get contracts

14 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

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Bob Chiarelli, Dutton-Dunwich, EDP Renewables, IESO, Invenergy, Municipality of Nation, Not a Willing host, RES Canada, Sauvons La Nation, Save The Nation, Stewart Fast

The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) last week announced contracts for five wind power projects, for a total of 300 megawatts of new wind power generation.

According to Ontario’s Auditor General, the province is already in a situation of a surplus of power, and selling off the extra at a loss, a good portion of which is due to wind power.

Two Ottawa area communities were named in the contract announcement. The Municipality of Nation and Township of Champlain were tipped for a 32-megawatt project by RES Canada, and North Stormont is to get a 100-megawatt project by EDP Renewables. EDP Renewables (head office Spain) operates the South Branch wind power project in Brinston, which it purchased from Germany-based Prowind.

Citizens of Nation/Champlain who want to get involved should contact Save The Nation/Sauvons La Nation here.

In a recent paper prepared by eight Ontario academics (Fast et al, Nature Energy, January 2016), Ontario’s procurement process for large-scale renewable power projects came under fire for ignoring community concerns.

News reports following last week’s contract announcement quote local mayors as saying they feel “betrayed” by the government action–Dutton-Dunwich mayor Cameron McWilliam was quoted as saying “We live in the Province of Toronto, not the Province of Ontario.” His municipality conducted a full, legal referendum which resulted in 84% saying NO to the wind power project–they are getting a 57-megawatt project by U.S.-based Invenergy.

The municipalities do not even know where the turbines for the proposed power projects will go, as that information is not part of the bid process.

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, who told municipalities that it would be “impossible” for a power developer to get a contract if a community did not support it, now says, “They should have known” we never gave them a veto. He describes the power projects, bid and constructed by private corporations, as “public infrastructure.”

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Economic, social disaster: Wynne government green energy policy

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Dalton McGuinty, Fraser Institute, Green Energy Act, Kathleen Wynne, Stewart Fast, University of Ottawa, Wind Concerns Ontario, wind farm, wind farm financing, wind farm leases, wind power, Wynne government

Higher electricity bills, manufacturing being driven away, social costs of huge wind power plants

Shoreline Beacon, February 8, 2016

By Jim Merriam

Premier Kathleen Wynne (Antonella Artuso/Toronto Sun)

Photo Toronto Sun

It’s to be hoped the Fraser Institute didn’t spend much money on its recent study of the fiscal performance of Canada’s premiers.

Every resident of Ontario able to sit up and take nourishment — probably including Wiarton Willie last week — has known the study’s conclusion for a long time: Premier Kathleen Wynne is doing a lousy job of managing Ontario’s economy.

Wynne, with the help of her predecessor Dalton McGuinty, has reduced Ontario from a powerhouse to an empty house.

On almost every file Wynne’s government is found wanting if not severely under water, to borrow a phrase from the mortgage industry.

The worst is energy. The cost of power in the province has forced industries to close and some families to choose between heat and groceries.

A columnist in a Toronto newspaper recently suggested the heat-vs.-food statement is an exaggeration. He should spend a few minutes listening to clients at food banks in rural areas. But I digress.

Much of the high cost of power is associated with renewable energy production.

A new study from the University of Ottawa confirms what we’ve been saying all along: Ontario brought in wind energy with a “top-down” style that brushed off the worries of communities where the massive turbines now stand.

Stewart Fast, who headed the study, said, “It was a gold rush, basically.” Since those involved kept details secret to avoid giving their competitors an edge, residents didn’t know what their neighbours were planning.

“That is really the worst way to go about something that you know is going to have a big impact on landscape and people,” he said.

In defence of renewable energy, we keep hearing from our urban cousins how much money farmers are earning by allowing turbines on their land. Although true on the surface, there’s much more to that equation, said Jane Wilson, president of Wind Concerns Ontario.

Just one question is the impact of the presence of a turbine on the farm owner’s financing.

Read the full story here.

Ontario’s wind power plan failed rural communities: U of O research paper

04 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Tags

community opposition wind farms, Green Energy Act, McGuinty government, Ontario Liberal government, rural Ontario, Stewart Fast, University of Ottawa, wind farms, wind power, wind turbines

“Top-down” policy ignored community concerns, health impacts, research team says

3-MW turbine south of Ottawa at Brinston: Ontario. Communities had no choice. [Photo by Ray Pilon, Ottawa]

3-MW turbine south of Ottawa at Brinston: Ontario. Communities had no choice. [Photo by Ray Pilon, Ottawa]

Ottawa Citizen February 3, 2016

By Tom Spears

Ontario brought in wind energy with a “top-down” style that brushed off the worries of communities where the massive turbines now stand, says a University of Ottawa study.

The 2009 Green Energy Act gave little thought to the transformation that wind farms bring to rural communities — problems that even revisions to the act “will only partially address,” writes a group headed by Stewart Fast.

Fast personally favours wind energy, “but only if it’s done right.”

In Ontario, he says, much of it wasn’t.

Read the full story here.

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