The Auditor General for Ontario noted in her recent report that the government has hidden costs of electricity, and not created a fair cost reduction plan. Cancelling wind power contracts would be a good start, says Wind Concerns Ontario
October 24
Cancelling wind power contracts would bring real savings
The special report by Ontario’s Auditor General on the government’s Fair Hydro Plan not only stated concerns about the level of debt being incurred by the vote-getting “plan” it also contained this recommendation: the government should “use a financing structure to fund the rate reduction that is least costly for Ontarians.”
If the Ontario government was genuinely interested in reducing electricity bills for Ontario citizens, it would reduce costs.
It’s not doing that.
A case in point concerns the wind power projects given 20-year contracts in 2016, totaling $3.3 billion. Those wind power projects (Dutton Dunwich, The Nation, North Stormont, Otter Creek) will provide unnecessary intermittent power, and force industrial power plants on communities that are actively fighting them over environmental, health and economic concerns.
Cancelling other contracts not yet built, such as Amherst Island, Prince Edward County and North Kent, would save more than one billion, over 20 years.
Ontario has a surplus of power but more important, does not need more wind power which tends to be produced out of phase with demand. On the recently warm October 15th Sunday, for example, Ontario power demand was low, but we were forced to “constrain” almost record-breaking wind power production — we paid millions for power we didn’t need.
In fact, says a Commentary prepared for the Council for Clean & Reliable Energy, 70 per cent of Ontario’s wind power is wasted, because it is produced at night and in mild seasons. Very little of it reaches the urban areas that need power, yet the effects of industrial-scale wind power plants on rural communities are significant.
The Auditor General says the government is hiding the true cost of its politically motivated Fair Hydro Plan which pretends to bring a 25 per cent rate reduction, while actually putting off the costs to the future.
Ontario can make real savings in costs now, by cancelling contracts for unnecessary wind power.
Jane Wilson
President
Wind Concerns Ontario
This article appeared in Ontario Farmer, October 23, 2017.
10 Comments
Jim McPherson
Congratulations Jane, on fine piece that fingers wind power as a culprit in causing high electricity costs. I am presently in Madeirax, where today I viewed 2 wind farms, both of which are far from human residences. And the excess electricity produced from wind turbines is used mainly to pump water back up the mountainsides behind dams, fo later use to generate hydroelectric power. The public corporation that manages the Madeira electricity utility tries to balance new wind and solar farms with new hydroelectric generating facilities to maintain a hydro storage backup capability to optimize energy storage during times of overproduction of wind and solar energy. Ontario has no apparent plan for such balancing of electricity generating resources.
Jim McPherson
Congratulations Jane, on your fine piece that fingers wind power as a culprit in causing high electricity costs. I am presently in Madeira, where today I viewed 2 wind farms, both of which are far from human residences. And the excess electricity produced from Madeira wind turbines is used mainly to pump water back up the mountainsides behind dams, fo later use to generate hydroelectric power. The public corporation that manages the Madeira electricity utility tries to balance new wind and solar farms with new hydroelectric generating facilities to maintain a hydro storage backup capability to optimize energy storage during times of overproduction of wind and solar energy. Ontario has no apparent plan for such balancing of electricity generating resources.
Stan Thayer
Also, thank you Jane and Jim your last sentence is so true. Ontario has no plan! As we and the auditor general have witnessed there is no one at the Ministry of Energy that has any interest in balancing the electricity generating resources. The new Bath gas plant being built right beside the Lennox Generating Station has half of the capacity of the Lennox station and the Lennox station was on-line less than one hour a day during September 2017.
Windmills have nothing to do with electricity, they are all about perception, backwash, kickbacks, warchests and other back door financing. It is easy to deceive voters if you recognize what you need to say for their compliance and the Liberal supporters should give their heads a shake over their Liberal government borrowing money to lower hydro bills just before the election. What dupes!
Wolfe Island is a slow motion train wreck so why would anyone expect Amherst to be different?
Ontarians are paying, on average, 15 cents on a dollar borrowed through the Liberal government to the money lenders, including me. So, the more money borrowed for windmills the more interest paid back compounding as short as 6 years.
Also, the interest generated by the IWT’S is completely private, none goes back to provincial coffers and the de-commissioning is expected to be 300 to 400% of the installation costs.
The only industry that keeps growing in Ontario is Government!
Stan Thayer
Sommer
“Windmills have nothing to do with electricity, they are all about perception, backwash, kickbacks, warchests and other back door financing. It is easy to deceive voters if you recognize what you need to say for their compliance and the Liberal supporters should give their heads a shake over their Liberal government borrowing money to lower hydro bills just before the election.”
This needs to be repeated again and again and again until everyone understands the issue of deferred debt we face in Ontario. People who truly care about their children and grandchildren need to understand all of the deceptions.
Ruining the environment in rural Ontario; making it uninhabitable because of noise, low frequency noise modulations and infrasound radiation because of industrial scale wind power stations, which we’re told will ‘save the planet’ is sheer madness.
Sommer
Add to the costs of this failed experiment the cost of human lives. The results of this study on suicides are absolutely alarming:
http://en.friends-against-wind.org/health/impact-of-wind-turbines-on-suicide
Pat Cusack
Its nice to see someone offering information that makes sense. The problem with wind and solar energy is having it available when it is needed. Pumping water to storage facilities so0 it can be used when needed to product hydro electricity when needed makes so much sense. One wonders why our government people cannot understand this. Bernie
Notinduttondunwich
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/toronto/peter-faist-hard-drives-gas-plants-1.4375941
Notinduttondunwich
Ya Pat great idea…. lets start in the Muskocas north of Toronto… lots of potential water storage up there… just build a big cement wall…. of course the folks up there are gonna have to abondon their properties….. but its for a good cause… The Green Energy Act….. also would like to sign an REA application on behalf of the Aboriginals that signed DD up for a wind power plant facility for this water storage power generation idea!!! Where do i sign!!!
Barbara
Urban “brownfield” sites could be used for IWTs and ground mounted solar projects but it costs way too much to clean up these “brownfield” sites so they can used again.
Cheaper to install in rural areas.
This topic is on the internet if anyone is interested.
Notinduttondunwich
How about erecting a 350 turbine power plant in the GTA… make them as big as the CN tower… the locals wont see them cause they are too high to see… wont need any setbacks either cause of the height…. put 6 or 8 around the airport for good measures…. water wells wont be a problem cause yer all on city water… they could be 50 MW per turbine… that would be quite a sight!!!