January 25, 2005

More than 50 hydro projects are being considered for development in Ontario

TORONTO

More than 50 submissions for new water-power projects in Ontario are being reviewed for possible development, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay said last Friday.

The projects are part of the government’s goal to generate five per cent of Ontario’s total energy capacity from renewable sources by 2007.

“We are very pleased to have received such an enthusiastic response to our strategy to find new sites for water-power development,” Ramsay said in a statement.

After calling for proposals back in November, Ramsay said the government re- ceived 57 expressions of interest to develop sites cap- able of producing between 200 megawatts and 300 megawatts of clean hydroelectric capacity.

The ministry said it will announce which sites will be made available for development in mid-February.

The province is hoping to generate another 5,000 megawatts by using new technology in Ontario’s fast-moving rivers.

Ramsay has said the government isn’t interested in any of the big James Bay-style hydroelectric projects that flood huge tracts of land.

Developing cleaner sour-ces of energy will help red-uce the province’s reliance on coal-fired plants and create jobs in the province, Ramsay said.

The Canadian Press

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