August 19, 2011

GREG MECKBACH

Ontario Power Generation can get 2.76 Gigawatts of power from the coal-fired Nanticoke Generating Station, located beside the village of the same name on the shore of Lake Erie. The future is uncertain for the station if the New Democratic Party takes power in Ontario. Both natural gas and biomass are options if the province proceeds with plans to phase out coal.

Ontario New Democratic Party unveils bicycle infrastructure, energy platforms

GREG MECKBACH

digital media editor

If the New Democratic Party forms the next Ontario government no new contracts would be offered to private for-profit corporations for renewable energy projects with capacities of more than 30 Megawatts.

“Small projects would proceed with the feed-in-tariff (FIT) program for individuals, for municipalities, for co-ops, but the large projects would be owned by the Province of Ontario,” said Peter Tabuns, the energy critic for the Ontario NDP and Member of Provincial Parliament for Toronto-Danforth.

The Ontario election is scheduled October 6 and a major issue is the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) FIT program, which has provided opportunities for the construction industry in site preparation and building the plants themselves, plus work on power transmission infrastructure and factories to make solar and wind power components.

“We are not going to be stopping investment in renewable power in this province,” Tabuns said in an interview with The Daily Commercial News.

The FIT program provides fixed rates for 20 years for electrical power generation firms using solar photovoltaic, wind, hydro, biomass, biogas and other renewable sources. As of August 5, OPA had received a total of 8,231 applications representing 19.73 Gigawatts of capacity. It has offered 2,439 contracts, representing 4.75 GW of capacity, and a total of 1,571 contracts (with total generating capacity of 3.7 GW) were under development.

Tabuns emphasized the NDP would not cancel any existing FIT contracts if it forms the next provincial government. For companies who have applied for FIT contracts for large projects, Tabuns said they “might be allowed to proceed,” with the government buying out the owner.

For small projects, Tabuns said, the NDP would “tentatively set the threshold” at 20 to 30 MW.

“We still have to figure out how we do that transition for projects that are in development but don’t have a contract,” he said. “That’s something we’re going to have to both sort through and negotiate with owners in the industry.”

Like the ruling Liberal government, the NDP plans to phase out the use of coal in electrical power generation.

Ontario Power Generation currently operates four coal-burning power plants and the future is uncertain for two of them. Natural gas and biomass are options for both the Nanticoke and Lambton power plants under the Liberals. Nanticoke, located beside the village of the same name on the shore of Lake Erie, is capable of producing 2.76 GW of power, while the Lambton station south of Sarnia has a capacity of 211 MW.

In Northern Ontario, the Liberals have decided to convert Thunder Bay Generating Station to natural gas and to convert the Atikokan Generation Station to biomass.

“We are willing to assess the biomass option,” Tabuns said of the NDP’s electricity plan. “We haven’t talked about natural gas about this point.”

The NDP energy platform also includes a proposal to give municipalities $60 million over four years to make roads safer for cyclists.

“Whether they use them to paint lines or put in barriers, it would be up to the municipality,” Tabuns said.

The NDP also promised that the province would provide 50 per cent of municipal transit operating budgets if the NDP takes power, though the municipalities would have to refrain from increasing fares. Tabuns said the NDP plans to make more announcements on transit funding as the election campaign proceeds.

The NDP has criticized the Ontario government for its goal of increasing the percentage of electricity produced by nuclear to 50 per cent. The OPA plans to refurbish 10 GW worth of existing nuclear capacity at the Bruce and Darlington plants and to procure two new units for Darlington.

Construction on the refurbishment project at Darlington , located about 70 kilometres east of Toronto, is scheduled to begin in 2016. Last month, McKay-Cocker Construction Ltd. started building the 250,000-square-foot Darlington Energy Complex, which will be used to train staff working on the refurbishment.

Tabuns said the NDP would not proceed with building any new capacity at Darlington, but would not say for sure whether the NDP would put a stop to the refurbishment.

“We have found at this point there is no business case for doing it and what we’ve said we would do is reassess what needs to be done in electricity in Ontario, put a proposal through a full environmental assessment and look for the program that gives us the best deal environmentally and economically,” he said.

“We recognize that there are huge opportunities in efficiency and conservation to replace the power that would be generated from a Darlington style-investment.”

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