NOV 14

Interesting news. I hadn't heard before that Canada has these plans.

Have you heard what Canada plans to do for power at night? Do they have natural gas or nuclear plants they can turn on, or are they planning to store day-time electricity with batteries, compressed air, or something of the like? It will be a boon to countries everywhere when others can demonstrate what coal-free electricity looks like.

Mark

To be accurate, the article refers to Ontario's plan to shut down all coal-fired generation by 2014. It is a reasonable goal given Ontario's current mix - roughly;

Nuclear - 52%
Hydro - 21%
Coal - 18%
Natural gas - 8%
Other - 1%

But the good news ends there. Despite the talk of the importance of renewable energy and the introduction of a "Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program" (a much higher reimbursement for small producers of renewable energy e.g. $0.42 per KWh produced vs residential price of roughly $.065 per KWh) the plan is to replace one fossil-fuel (coal) for another (natural gas). It is a plan that, if followed, will squeeze out a larger role for renewable energy in the province. However, the Minister of Energy - George Smitherman, (after looking at what Germany, Spain, California and others have done) has issued a directive to the Ontario Power Authority to rethink their 20-year plan and place greater importance on renewable energy options. Let's hope the DOUGs (Dumb Old Utility Guys) wake up and figure out how to incorporate a diversity of renewable options into the grid - better for the environment and better for the economy.

1,917 MW?
Holy crap that's awesome. I wish the UK had this.

It seems as if the eggs are not all in one basket up there.

Thanks for the info James. I was kinda suspecting something along those lines. I didn't realize that Canada was so reliant on nuclear power for its electricity. I'm from the U.S., and our nuclear/coal ratios are the opposite, so when I read that Canada was replacing all of its coal with renewables, I was picturing 50% of all electricity produced, not 18%.

Just to clarify for Mark: those percentages are representative of Ontario's energy use- not the rest of the country (one province). Ontario has fantastic alternative energy options for it's consumers (you actually get to CHOOSE your company) whereas many other provinces don't. Although Ontario is a very large province, those numbers don't represent the rest of the country.

Let's hope the DOUGs (Dumb Old Utility Guys) wake up and figure out how to incorporate a diversity of renewable options into the grid - better for the environment and better for the economy.
http://www.merbridal.com

Recuerdo un fragmento del texto de J Lovelock "La venganza de la Tierra" donde intenta de mil formas demostrar argumentos a favor de Centrales Nucleares. Para paises como el mio, muchos inversionistas extranjeros estarían muy felices que esto así fuese. Pero y por qué no les alegra invertir en Energía Eólica - ¿Es que ofrece más utilidades la EN? - o ¿No tienen a quien vender esta tecnología en Europa que buscan clientes en los paises en vias de desarrollo?.
Bien por las iniciativas limpias. Digno de imitar.
atte
Sergio

1917 MW is a drop in the bucket relative to total demand Cliffski. All the emotional moonbeam renewable people think it's God's gift to the grid when it's really very diffuse, capable of supplying only a only a small fraction of total demand and requiring of taxpayer subsidization at that.

but isnt it worth it to have some of our tax money going to paying for clean energy. maybe they could take some of that money collected from oil taxes to subsidize it with.

The $0.42/KwH is also only for solar power, which generates power during the day when the weighted average hourly spot price (WAHSP) is higher than $0.065 that they're selling it for.

Wind gets a much smaller premium of around $0.11/KwH

It is a reasonable goal given Ontario's current mix

The Green Energy Act (Ontario) has been passed so we should see the end of coal produced power come 2014