End unnecessary wind power project and save $400 million: WCO to Premier Ford


 

A new wind power project will be a huge expense to Ontario consumers, and has worrisome environmental features, too. End it, Wind Concerns Ontario says.

October 31, 2018
At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Social Policy at Queen’s Park on Monday, October 29, the president of the wind power industry’s trade association and lobbyist, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) spoke against ending the Green Energy Act in Ontario because, he said, wind power is now the cheapest option for power generation.
He claimed that contracts in Alberta now average 3.7 cents per kilowatt hour, which actually excludes support payments funded by carbon taxes in that province. We leave analysis of this almost certainly false claim to the usual analysts (Parker Gallant, Scott Luft, Steve Aplin, Marc Brouillette and others), but we have questions:
Why did Ontario contract for wind power at Nation Rise for 8.5 cents per kWh?
Why is this project going ahead at all, when there is no demonstrated need for the power?*
And,
Why will Ontario electricity customers have to pay more than $400 million for a power project we don’t need?
The Nation Rise project in North Stormont (between Cornwall and Ottawa) is an emblem of everything wrong with Ontario’s renewables policy, under the former government. The 100-megawatt power project, being developed by wind power giant EDP with head offices in Spain, is minutes away from the R H Saunders Generating Station, whose full 1,000-megawatt capacity powered by the St. Lawrence River is rarely used.
Wind power, on the other hand, unlike hydro power, is intermittent and not to be relied upon — in Ontario, wind power is produced out-of-phase with demand (at night and in the spring and fall when demand is low).
And, it’s expensive.
Lawrence Solomon, executive director of Energy Probe in Toronto wrote Monday in the Financial Post that Ontario’s renewables are a significant factor in the mess that is Ontario’s power system. Renewables, he said, “which account for just seven per cent of Ontario’s electricity output but consume 40 per cent of the above-market fees consumers are forced to provide. Cancelling those contracts would lower residential rates by a whopping 24 per cent”.
Nation Rise may cost Ontario  as much as $451 million over the 20-year contract, or $22 million a year.**
But there is more on Nation Rise, which again highlights the problem with many wind power developments — the dramatic impact on the environment for little benefit.
Serious environmental concerns have arisen during the citizen-funded appeal of the Nation Rise project, including the fact that it is to be built on land that contains many areas of unstable Leda or “quick” clay, and it is also in an earthquake zone. No seismic assessments were asked for by the environment ministry, or done. In fact, a “technical expert” for the environment ministry did not visit the project site as part of his “technical review” it was revealed during the appeal, but instead visited quarries outside the area.
He testified in fact that he didn’t even know Leda clay was present until after his inspection, until after he filed his report with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, and until after he filed his evidence statement with the Environmental Review Tribunal.
Nation Rise received a conditions-laden Renewable Energy Approval just days before the writ for the June Ontario election.
It is Wind Concerns Ontario’s position that the Renewable Energy Approval for this project should be revoked, and the project ended, to save the environment, and save the people of Ontario hundreds of millions of dollars.
 

We don’t want to pay $400+ million for the power from Nation Rise.

#CancelNationRise
*CanWEA and others neck-deep in the wind power game recite a statement purportedly from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in a Globe and M<ail article that Ontario will be in a power shortage in five years. This is false, of course, as the IESO hurried to correct.
**Thanks to Parker Gallant for these calculations.

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7 Comments

  • Tracy
    Posted October 31, 2018 12:57 pm 0Likes

    No mention of negative health impact.. Why not?

  • Sommer
    Posted November 2, 2018 9:41 am 0Likes

    Professor Ian Lee of the Sprott School of Business told journalist Rob Snow on Radio CFRA today that, contrary to rumours that investors would lose confidence in Ontario if contracts for existing wind power projects ended, nonsense—investors would have renewed confidence in Ontario now that the reckless mismanagement of the McGuinty-Wynne governments is over. #FordNation #windenergy #CancelNationRise https://sprott.carleton.ca/profile/ian-lee/
    sprott.carleton.ca
    Ian Lee
    I am an Associate Professor at Carleton University in the Sprott School where I started in 1988, teaching the 4th year and (later) the MBA Strategic Management capstone course, as well as related courses such as International Business Strategy, from then to now.

  • Rainer
    Posted November 2, 2018 11:49 am 0Likes

    Not only is Nation Rise not needed and not wanted but EDPR chose to, and was allowed to use outdated Noise Modelling guidelines from 2008 that have since been updated by the ISO and CSA as they were recognized as inadequate to protect human health. Sadly they (EDPR) were deceptive about it when asked which models they were using; claiming to use the 2016 guidelines but not identifying that they had a choice and their choice was to risk the health of residents and use the older harmful levels. That choice was embedded in the was embedded in updates to O. Reg. 359/09 by the Liberals and EDPR knowingly took full advantage with their support. If current standards were used less than 1/4 of the proposed sites would be allowed even with Ontario’s less than adequate setbacks. If allowed to proceed we can anticipate a lot of sick people including children and those already sick or compromised, not to mention negative effects on animals and the natural environment. Not the type of business we want in Ontario. #CancelNationRise #FordNation

  • Sommer
    Posted November 5, 2018 1:43 pm 0Likes

    When an expert on harm from infrasound states that she would not live within 20 km from wind turbines, what on earth is preventing the immediate cancellation of all of the contracts in Ontario?
    Listen to what Dr. Mariana Alves-Pereira presented to professional in Slovenia in May, 2018.
    We already have rural residents in Ontario who are experiencing the symptoms of the cumulative harm she is talking about.
    Is this the kind of business deal people want Ontario’s government to be accepting and promoting?

  • Sommer
    Posted November 5, 2018 1:45 pm 0Likes

    Here’s the link to Dr. Mariana-Alves-Pereira’s presentation where she talks about the neurological and cardio vascular harm which she says is irreversible.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXCZ3OyklrE
    Is Ontario morally bankrupt?

  • Stan Thayer
    Posted November 7, 2018 8:38 pm 0Likes

    OK folks so we know all that, the Power Workers and the Society of Professional Engineers have been ignored!
    Why do you think that is?
    Politics.
    Enough said, money talks, get over it!
    We need the power to recharge electric cars even though the pumps that filled the gas cars required much more power to raise the gas from underground tanks.
    Stupid cannot be explained.
    Stan the power man

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