| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Ontario to pay idle wind farms; Province has a power surplus but signed 20-year contracts with wind-power producers
Credit: The Canadian Press | September 11, 2013 | www.montrealgazette.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
TORONTO – Ontario will start paying wind power generators today not to produce electricity, but the government says the move will actually save ratepayers big bucks.
Ontario has had a surplus of power since 2006, but until now, the province paid for all the electricity generated from industrial wind mills, even when it wasn’t needed.
Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli says the system operator can now order wind producers not to generate power, and will pay them – just as it pays Bruce nuclear – not to produce electricity when it’s not needed.
He says they are paid at a reduced rate that will save the province $200 million a year just on the wind mills.
Ontario has signed generous contracts with wind producers for about 5,800 megawatts of electricity, only about 1,500 of which is connected to the grid.
The Progressive Conservatives say paying wind power producers with 20-year contracts not to generate electricity shows the Liberals’ green energy act “is a failed social experiment.”
Critics point out wind power is unreliable and can’t be counted on in peak demand periods like gas-fired generation or nuclear plants.
Meanwhile, Chiarelli says Ontario is making a net profit of up to $6 billion a year on importing and exporting electricity, a big turnaround from 2003 when the province paid $500 million to import power because it didn’t have enough to meet demand.
It’s not unusual for neighbouring jurisdictions to sell each other electricity, but the province used to frequently have to pay Quebec or New York state to take the excess power off its hands.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Contributions |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=52255 ]
