Ontario a world leader in wasted wind power

Scottish electricity customers are upset that they are paying millions to wind power producers not to produce — Parker Gallant says Ontario has that beat … by a long shot.
Here’s his latest on how Ontario pays millions (added to our electricity bills) to wind power producers, because wind power is produced when it’s not needed.

Samsung Belle River project racing for completion: Ontario doesn’t need more wind power

And the winner (loser) is … Ontario

A recent article appearing in Energy Voice was all about the costs of “constraint” payments to onshore industrial wind developments in Scotland.  It started with the following bad news:
“According to figures received by Energy Voice, the cost of paying wind farm operators to power down in order to prevent the generation of excess energy is stacking up with more than £300million* paid out since 2010.”  (£300 million at the current exchange rate is equal to about CAD $500 million. ) 
What Scotland refers to as “constrained” Ontario calls “curtailed,” but they mean exactly the same thing. Ontario didn’t start constraining/curtailing generation until mid-September 2013, or almost three full years after the article’s reference date for Scotland. Curtailment prevents the grid from breaking down and causing blackout or brownouts.
The article from Energy Voice goes on: “In 2016 alone, Scottish onshore wind farms received £69million in constraint payments for limiting 1,048,890MWh worth of energy”.
Ontario in 2016, curtailed 2,327,228 MWh (megawatt hours). That figure comes from Scott Luft who uses data supplied by IESO (Independent Electricity System Operator) for grid-connected wind power projects and conservatively estimates curtailed wind for distributor-connected turbines to compile the information.
What that means: in 2016 it cost Ontario’s ratepayers CAD $$279.2 million** versus £69 million (CAD equivalent $115.2 million) for Scottish ratepayers. So, Ontario easily beat Scotland in both the amount of constrained wind generation as well as the subsidy cost for ratepayers who in both cases paid handsomely for the non-delivery of power!
The article went on to note: “By August 2017, the bill had already reached in excess of £55million in payments for 800,000MWh”!
Once again Ontario’s ratepayers easily took the subsidy title by curtailing 2.1 million MWh in the first eight months of the current year, coughing up over $252.5 million Canadian versus the equivalent of CAD $92 million by Scottish ratepayers.
In fact, since September 2013, Ontario has curtailed about 5.5 million MWh and ratepayers picked up subsidy costs of over $660 million.
Ratepayers in both Ontario and Scotland are victims of government mismanagement and wind power industry propaganda, and are paying to subsidize the intermittent and unreliable generation of electricity by industrial wind turbines.
(C) Parker Gallant
* One British Pound is currently equal to approximately CAD $1.67.
**Industrial wind generators are strongly rumored to be paid $120 per MWh for curtailed generation.

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14 Comments

  • Andre Lauzon
    Posted September 25, 2017 10:27 am 0Likes

    What’s a million $ a day to get a few votes???????????? *(and $$ for the party)

  • Barbara
    Posted September 25, 2017 11:05 am 0Likes

    WindPower Monthly, 30 April 2015
    Re: California and Ontario
    ‘Pattern Energy profile: Our plan is to be the most profitable’
    At:
    http://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1344890/pattern-energy-profile-plan-profitable

  • Notinduttondunwich
    Posted September 25, 2017 12:20 pm 0Likes

    http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html
    Look at those numbers folks!!!! Disgusting!!
    When will the premier realize that running our electrical grid should be left to folks who know how to run an electrical grid!!???
    This is absolutely dispicable at whats happening to all Ontarions!!! Shame on Kathlene Wynne and the lieberal party of Ontario….

  • Barbara
    Posted September 25, 2017 2:37 pm 0Likes

    ‘G20 Energy Efficiency Investment Toolkit’, 2017, 87 pages
    Re: Energy efficiency including smart meters.
    P.2, Acknowledgements, parties involved
    P.7, Energy Efficiency Investment Trends Conclusions
    P.9, Private Sector Contributions, Role of Private Sector Banks
    p.69, Canada, Ontario’s ‘Energy Conservation First’
    p.75, Canada’s Green Municipal Fund.
    More at:
    http://www.unepfi.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/G20-EE-Toolkit.pdf

  • Notinduttondunwich
    Posted September 25, 2017 5:07 pm 0Likes

    http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html
    Wow this has to be a record for the day!!

  • Pat Cusack
    Posted September 25, 2017 7:19 pm 0Likes

    I am not sure why everyone is getting upset. Our Mz Wynne not only has her own Math formulas but wants to make changes in the education system.
    If we all buy into into her math everything will be rosy until the bills come in.
    Bernie

  • Richard Mann
    Posted September 26, 2017 6:37 pm 0Likes

    Still waiting for Huron County Health Unit…
    An investigation into health impacts of wind turbines was initiated in March 2016. (Ontario’s HPPA, Health Protection and Promotion Act). Since then we have had one delay after another, and still no remedy for those living under turbines.
    As of Sept 19, 2017, Erica Clark informed me they have heard back from University of Waterloo ethics requesting “some final wording changes in the study materials”. Meanwhile I have been told that all communications of the ethics board, including the names an positions of the applicants, is confidential.
    I am asking for transparency, and for immediate action on this urgent health issue.
    For further details, including correspondence and my own research on Infra sound and wind turbines, please see my web page below.
    Sincerely,
    Richard Mann
    Associate Professor, Computer Science
    University of Waterloo
    http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~mannr

  • Stan Thayer
    Posted September 29, 2017 10:49 am 0Likes

    Thank-you Parker and you know the key word is estimate. They can only estimate the amount of power that might have been generated if a certain unit was operating nominally for some amount of time with some amount of wind.
    Basically, they write their own pay cheque.
    Why is this allowed?
    Doesn’t make cents, makes millions!
    And I can prove that!
    Stan Thayer

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