Tag Archives: wind power Ontario

Ontario electricity customers fleeced of billions by government: Auditor General

02 Wednesday Dec 2015

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AG doesn't even mention costs of reduced property values, health problems, but finds billions squandered by Wynne and McGuinty governments

AG doesn’t even mention costs of reduced property values, health problems, but finds billions squandered by Wynne and McGuinty governments

Wind, solar more costly than it needs to be

Toronto Star, December 2, 2015

By: Queen’s Park Bureau, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, Published on Wed Dec 02 2015

Ontario electricity consumers are being zapped to the tune of tens of billions of dollars due to poor government planning, unnecessarily high green energy costs, and shoddy service from Hydro One, says auditor general Bonnie Lysyk.

Lysyk concluded ratepayers forked over $37 billion more than necessary from 2006 to 2014 and will spend an additional $133 billion by 2032 due to the Liberals’ global adjustment electricity fees.

In 14 value-for-money audits for her 773-page annual report delivered Wednesday at Queen’s Park, the auditor took aim at the electricity sector on the eve of Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli’s announcement on next steps for the province’s aging nuclear reactors.

She also highlighted problems with everything from Ontario’s 47 children’s aid societies — including questionable executive expenses — community care access centres, and school buses to the bungled SAMS social assistance computer system and the lack of a plan for dealing with contaminated waste.

But much of her scorn was reserved for the energy ministry, which is overseeing the sell-off of Hydro One, the provincial electricity transmitter.

“Hydro One’s customers have a power system for which reliability appears to be worsening while costs are increasing,” said Lysyk, echoing Ed Clark, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s privatization czar, who has argued Hydro One can and should be a much more professionally run company.

“Customers are experiencing more frequent power outages, mostly because assets aren’t being fully maintained, aging equipment isn’t being consistently replaced and trees near power lines aren’t being trimmed often enough to prevent outages,” she said, lamenting that this will be her final audit of the company since it will no longer fall under her purview once it is private.

At the same time, Ontario’s controversial push to promote wind and solar energy is proving more costly than it needs to be, and energy conservation is proving unnecessarily expensive because the province has a surplus of electricity.

Lysyk estimated consumers could end up paying $9.2 billion more for renewable energy over 20-year contracts issued under the Green Energy Act with guaranteed prices set at double the U.S. market price for wind and at 3.5 times the going rate for solar last year.

“With wind and solar prices around the world beginning to decline around 2008, a competitive process would have meant much lower costs,” Lysyk wrote, noting the government ignored advice from the now-defunct Ontario Power Authority to seek bids for large renewable energy projects.

The auditor shines a light on energy conservation efforts slated to cost $4.9 billion from 2006 to 2020, saying the investment does “not necessarily” lead to savings because excess electricity must be exported at a loss.

“We are concerned,” Lysyk wrote. “Investing in conservation at a time of surplus actually costs us more.”

Read more here

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Wind power costly, not reliable

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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CanWEA's Hornung: his definition of 'reliable' is a bit off

CanWEA’s Hornung: his definition of ‘reliable’ is a bit off

Wind power: unreliable, and costly

Re-posted from Wind Concerns Ontario, with permission

Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), frequently uses the word “reliable” when expounding on the purported benefits of generating power from wind.  Here are a couple of them: “Wind energy is meeting Canada’s demand for new electricity in a clean, reliable and cost-competitive way,” says Hornung. And this one: “Wind energy provides reliable power”.

Hornung’s use of the word “reliable” is not the same as Webster’s defines it: “to be relied on” and “giving the same result on repeated trials”.   His use of the term “cost-competitive”  fails the same test!

Some recent events offer contradicting evidence on the issue of wind’s “reliability” as a power source.

On October 5, 2015 wind production for the full 24 hours was 2,636 megawatts (MW) averaging 110 MW per hour—that represented just 0.5% of Ontario’s average demand of 16,394 MW per hour.   Now measured against Ontario’s average hourly demand of October 19, 2015 at 14,997 MW is an interesting contrast.  Ontario’s industrial wind turbines (IWTs), with an IESO1. reported capacity of 3,427 MW, were producing an average of 2,474 MW per hour, and in  24 hours cranked out 59,389 MWh, representing 16.5% of the average hourly demand.  The lower demand day of October 19th  (9.4% less than October 5th) saw those IWTs producing power at very high levels, which coincidentally resulted in average hourly exports 760 MW higher per hour.

The connection to high wind power generation and higher exports is obvious, as is the lower average of the hourly Ontario energy price (HOEP). October 5th that was $30.99 per MWh, but only $21.62 (30% lower) on October 19th.

What does it mean? Ontario’s ratepayers subsidized wind on the higher demand day by picking up the cost of $252K (2,626 X $127/MWh2. = $333K – $81K [2,626 X $30.99/MWh]  = $252K).   Compared to the subsidy picked up by Ontario’s ratepayers on October 19th , however, that was a bargain.  On the latter day the cost was considerably more at $6.2 million (59,389 MWh X $127= $7.5 million – $1.3 million [59,389 MWh X $21.62/MWh] = $6.2 million).

Mr. Hornung and CanWEA may consider “reliable” to mean Ontario’s ability to supply our neighbours in New York, Michigan and elsewhere with power that is “cost-competitive.”  It’s just not in his best interest to express it that way.

CanWEA needs to find new talking points that deal with the facts: power generation from wind is totally unreliable and anything but cost-competitive!

©Parker Gallant,

October 25, 2015

  1. IESO do not report the full capacity until the IWT are commissioned by them, whereas the full capacity may be considerably higher.
  2. The OEB estimates the average cost of wind generation at $127/MWh.

 

P.S.: Hour 18 on October 24, 2015 saw a new record for wind generation in Ontario with  3,123 MWh meaning IWT were operating at over 91% of capacity, and the HOEP (hourly Ontario energy price) was $13.36— subsidies were $350K for just that hour.

Wind power info meeting in St Albert October 20

15 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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No community support for greed in Nation Twp [Photo: Ontario Farmer]

No community support for greed says Save The Nation [Photo: Ontario Farmer]

Community Information Session in St-Albert 
The volunteers from Save The Nation have planned an information session to explain the reasons why our group is against the industrial wind turbine projects in our areas.
Producing green energy in Ontario is a complex issue. The session will help you better understand the role of the provincial government and the Green Energy Act, the role of our municipality and the repercussion of their decisions on all of its citizens. Other topics will include the negative impacts of wind turbines on humans, the economy and the environment.
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Location: St-Albert Community Centre, 201 Principale, St-Albert
Time: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (English)
8:00 to 9:00 p.m. (French)
Why continue the opposition movement?
Although our municipality has officially declared its opposition to wind turbine projects, it is the province that decides which projects will go forward. We sincerely hope that the Ontario government will respect its promise to not impose projects on municipalities that have declared themselves “not a willing host”.
However, the Ontario government has designated the Eastern and Central parts of the province as priority regions for the development of wind energy. The Nation Municipality is therefore in a designated priority area. Even if the St-Isidore and St-Bernardin projects are not selected in this current round of proposals, they can be considered in 2016 or 2017. If the Crysler project is chosen in the neighbouring municipality, there could be an extension into St-Albert, and even Embrun and Limoges.
What you can do to support the work of Save The Nation
• Keep your lawn sign visible. There will be signs available for purchase at our St-Albert event.
• Contact by phone or email your provincial member of parliament Grant Crack and the premier Kathleen Wynne.
• Continue to be informed on the subject. Attend municipal council meetings to show your interest in the decision they make on our behalf. All the meetings are public and take place on Mondays starting at 4 p.m. The dates and times of the meetings are posted on the municipality’s website.
Request for proposal process – Next step
IESO (Independant Electric System Operator) will evaluate the proposals by industrial wind turbine companies by the end of November 2015. They will announce the selected projects by the end of the year. Save The Nation will submit its official opposition in a written statement before the deadline of October 23rd. We are also researching our options in the event that our region is selected.
More information
Visit our website for a list of documentaries and articles on industrial wind turbines.
Sauvons la Nation – Save The Nation
Thank you for your interest and support of this important cause!
Please forward this message to friends and family.

What the Easter Bunny brought you (losses)

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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What the Easter Bunny brought Ontario’s neighbours

Ontario goodies for somebody...just not you
Ontario goodies for somebody…just not you

Ontario’s ratepayers won’t care much for what the Easter Bunny delivered over the long weekend.

Over Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the weekend of April 3, 2015, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) reported we exported 250,500 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity to our friends and neighbours, but they gave us only $6.21 per/MWh for power that cost us at least $90 per/MWh to produce.

The exported power over those three days was equivalent to almost 24% of total Ontario Demand of 1,009,700 MWh.

On top of that, IESO indicated via their Planned Outage Report they constrained, spilled, idled or steamed-off another 238,000 MWh from a variety of generators which represented 23% of total Ontario Demand.  Between exports and the outage requirements, ratepayers picked up the tab for 488,000 MWh or 51% of power we didn’t have a demand for.

So, why are we all told to conserve more?

Wind over that weekend generated about 58,000 MWh and represented 23% of exports. The cost of production was $7.1 million ($123 per/MWh) for which we were paid $360K ($6.21 per/MWh) — that’s a loss of $6.7 million.

Ratepayers also picked up the cost of the other 192,500 MWh exported at a cost of $17.5 million and the constrained production at a cost of about $12 million.

$36 million in losses

In those three days, Ontario’s electricity customers paid for all this and saw no benefit. Yet we are obligated to pick up almost $36 million in losses.  Doing this every day would results in annual costs of $3 billion, with no benefit!

We need the Liberal government to tell the Easter Bunny to stay home next time and dole out the Easter treats to Ontario’s ratepayers and taxpayers, instead of our neighbours.

©Parker Gallant,

Toronto, April 7, 2015

Are Ontario wind power subsidies keeping Florida bills low? (Yes)

24 Friday Oct 2014

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Ontario: keeping Florida’s fossil-fuel power bills low

Florida: plenty of natural gas-fired power. No wind
Florida: plenty of natural gas-fired power. No wind

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the largest subsidiary in NextEra Energy Inc’s portfolio with 4.7 million customers, is doing a fantastic job of keeping their rates low.  In fact they have had declining rates for a few years as noted in this post from one of their webpages:  “Bills Are Decreasing – Again!  Since 2009, FPL’s typical 1,000-kWh customer bill has decreased by 7 percent. And in January 2015, FPL expects to decrease the typical residential customer bill by nearly $2 a month.”

While the FPL customers can currently consume 1,000 kWh a month at an all-in price of 10.2 cents/kWh, rates in Ontario have been increasing at about 10% annually.   That 1,000 kWh purchased from Toronto Hydro will set you back $169.00 (65% higher) versus $102.00 from FPL.   The natural and first inclination is to believe that it is probably due to their sources of electricity and perhaps their efficiency levels; while the latter is probably true (they claim 8,900 employees versus the 20,000 plus we have in Ontario) their sources of electricity only include a passing nod at renewables and then only “solar” which seems reasonable in the Sunshine State!  The pie chart showing FPL’s “Fuel mix & purchased power” indicates at least 75% of electricity supplied to their ratepayers is fossil fuel-based.  Solar provides just over a half of 1%!

NextEra power sources: barely a nod to renewables in the U.S.
NextEra power sources: barely a nod to renewables in the U.S.

Look at the parent company, NextEra: it generates electricity from wind turbines where the company can find subsidies.  They rushed to Ontario to snap up at least six Ontario Power Authority (OPA) contracts with a rated capacity of just over 482 MW (megawatts).  A quick calculation of that rated capacity discloses Ontario’s ratepayers will pay a lot of money to NextEra over the next 20 years, which NextEra can use to either pay dividends to their shareholders, or allow some of the revenue used to keep rates low in the Sunshine State for Canadian “Snowbirds.”

The 482 MW of rated capacity should produce power at 29% of capacity, which means they should generate about 1.2 million MWh (megawatt hours).  The equation therefore is as follows:  482 MW @ 29% X 8760 hours in a year X $135 per MWh x 20 years = $3.2 billion.  That means revenue per FPL customer of about $35 per year. If only $2 finds its way to FPL’s customers, it will help to keep the rates down.

Ironically, Ontario’s Snowbirds pay much higher rates at home; no wonder Canadians own more property in Florida than citizens from the next five nationalities combined! Too bad their winter electricity bills will be waiting for them when they get back home.

©Parker Gallant

October 23, 2014

The views expressed are those of the author.

Reposted from Wind Concerns Ontario http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

Citizen opposition to wind farms results in ratepayer savings

25 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Here is a comment from Ottawa economist Robert Lyman, who is reflecting on a recent post by energy blogger Scott Luft.

Luft believes that citizen opposition to giant wind power projects has resulted in substantial savings for Ontario.

I thought I might extract a few of the more salient points that would be of interest to Wind Concerns Ontario.
The article is intended as a status report on industrial wind in Ontario, measured three years after the last batch of feed-in tariff contracts were awarded.  Three years ago, the contracted capacity from wind generators increased from around 4000 MW to around 5800 MW, according to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). The OPA showed 1958 MW “in service” in 2011.
The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), in contrast, currently reports that “installed generation capacity” for wind is 1824 MW, well below the OPA’s figure for 30 months ago. The discrepancy between the two agencies is unexplained. Scott Luft’s interpretation is that actual generation from wind sites has been only about 12.5 % of the grid-connected wind sites. He also estimates, based on OPA data, that Ontario currently has about 2800 MW of generation capacity from industrial wind turbine generators. This is less than half the capacity that was contracted for three years ago.
He believes that the delays in construction of the contracted capacity is clearly the result of “rural NIMBYism”; in other words, the strong efforts of rural communities to push back against wind developers.
How much has this saved Ontario ratepayers?
The feed-in tariff contracts were to pay $135 per MWh. At 2850 MW, a delay of one year in construction pushes back about $1 billion in contract payments. However, the savings to be realized from wind opposition go further. Contracting, which was planned to go to about 8000 MW of capacity, was curtailed below 6000 MW three years ago, and the 2013 Long Term Energy Plan rolled back wind plans by an additional 1200 MW. The deferral on contracting 2000 MW of wind for three years is worth about $2.5 billion, and cancelling 1200 MW altogether could be worth another $8.5 billion over the 20 years of the contract term.

Wind power documentary airs Wednesday June 4

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Wednesday June 4 at 8 PM on Sun News, is the debut of the documentary film Down Wind.

The film features interviews with Ontario residents living near wind power projects, economics professor Ross McKitrick, human rights lawyer Julian Faulkner, energy analyst Tom Adams, Human Rights Charter appellant Shawn Drennan, activist Esther Wrightman, and Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson.

DownWindPoster

Sun News doc film on wind power airs June 4

27 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Sun News has filmed a news special on the wind power industry in Ontario, its effects on communities, and legal actions. “Down Wind” airs June 4th.

A promotional trailer may be seen at the website here: http://www.downwindmovie.com/

Horwath in Sarnia: still believes in wind farms

16 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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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

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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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