Samsung’s turbine deal with Ontario in jeopardy

The Ontario government’s multi-billion-dollar wind turbine deal with South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group is in jeopardy after a power play in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet, the Toronto Star has learned.

Sources say rival ministers opposed to Deputy Premier George Smitherman’s pet scheme, which they fear will mean “billions” of dollars in subsidies to Samsung, have convinced McGuinty to stall the landmark deal first reported in the Star on Sept. 27.
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Ontario farmer to tilt at wind turbines in court

TORONTO — A farmer on a small island in Prince Edward County, Ont., who said he fears the constant swooshing of wind turbines will harm his family’s health launched a legal challenge Monday against Ontario’s wind power plans.

Ian Hanna said his application for judicial review, being called the first of its kind, is his latest appeal to the government after petitions failed to stop plans for five turbines about 900 metres away from his property on Big Island in the Bay of Quinte.

The community of about 100 homes will be overwhelmed by the turbines, he charged.

“My parents taught us when we were growing up that we should stand up for what we thought is good and right and whether that’s for my family or for my neighbours, I intend to do that,” he said.
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Canada’s Largest Solar Farm Opens in Ontario

Stone Mills Project Helps Province Become North American Solar Leader
TORONTO–(Business Wire)–
Canada’s largest solar farm is now producing power in the township of Stone
Mills, near Napanee – paving the way for Ontario to become a solar power leader
in North America.

This new green energy supply will help support Ontario’s elimination of dirty,
coal-fired generation, which is Canada’s single largest climate change
initiative. With two more large solar projects expected to come on line by the
end of 2009, Ontario will join the elite ranks of North America’s leaders in
installed solar capacity.

First Light Solar Park – currently the largest-scale commercial solar farm
operation in Canada – is a joint venture between SkyPower Corp. and SunEdison
Canada. With more than 126,000 solar panels spanning across 90 acres, this farm
is expected to generate more than 10 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable
electricity in its first year — enough to power 10,000 households.

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Samsung looking to build Lake Erie wind farm

Giant conglomerate Samsung is apparently pondering a wind farm comprising 200 turbines on the north shore of Lake Erie but the Ontario government would only confirm Sunday that talks with the Korean-based company are in advanced stages.

The proposed wind farm, part of Samsung’s new push into renewable energy, would stretch about 25 kilometres from Port Maitland toward Nanticoke, an area considered to have excellent wind potential.

The Ontario government said the two parties have been involved in “months of extraordinarily co-operative effort” toward an agreement that would involve billions of new investment, including in manufacturing facilities.

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Ontario in talks with Samsung to bring renewable energy business to province

TORONTO — South Korean electronics and industrial giant Samsung is in talks with the Ontario government to establish a renewable energy business in the province.

In a release, Ontario says talks have been ongoing for months and progress is being made toward an agreement.

In May, Samsung announced plans to enter the wind turbine market in 2010.
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‘Buy Ontario’ requirement added to Ontario green-energy plan

Erie Shores Wind Farm

The tricky business of going green in Ontario got more complex on Thursday as the McGuinty government introduced a mandatory ‘Buy Ontario’ component for new solar and wind projects.

The changes were part of a bundle of key new policies designed to spark home-grown green manufacturing, as well as the wide deployment of its products — everything from small, rooftop solar panels to industrial-sized wind farms.

But in trying to strike a balance between competing interests, the Liberals appear to have rattled all sides in the debate.
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Ontario gives green energy price guarantee

Ontario expects to cover the total cost and provide “a reasonable rate of return” for investments in green energy projects through decades-long contracts with fixed electricity prices.

The government said it is the first program of its kind in North America.

Solar, wind, water, biomass, biogas and landfill gas producers, including individual homeowners, will all be eligible to sell their power to the provincial grid under the program, one of the four final components of the Ontario Green Energy Act announced by Premier Dalton McGuinty Thursday.
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Green Energy Act a glaring example of Liberal government’s indifference to rights and interests of rural Ontarians

Owen Sound Sun Times
An Arran-Elderslie councillor wants his council to enforce its rights under the Ontario Municipal Act and impose a moratorium on wind energy projects.

Elderslie ward Coun. Mark Davis said last week the municipality can impose moratorium legislation for one year, with the opportunity to extend it for another year, “if we feel an issue needs further study. These wind energy projects certainly fall under that category,” said Davis, who has always been an outspoken critic of wind turbines.

“Council should consider implementing a moratorium to put a hold on these things until we know more about them, their impact and until the province gets its Green Energy Act in place,” Davis added.

Meanwhile, Arran-Elderslie is joining forces with other Ontario municipalities in a letter-writing campaign to Premier Dalton McGuinty requesting further study into the impacts of industrial wind complexes and other renewable installations.

“Bill 150 essentially excludes Ontarians from any say in the establishment and location of industrial wind turbine plants,” the letter states.

“It provides a glaring example of the Liberal government’s systematic indifference to the rights and interests of rural Ontarians and an inexcusable disregard for public health concerns.”

The letter asks for an independent third-party study “surrounding the rapid and improper installation of industrial wind projects throughout Ontario.”

Ontario’s big windy gamble. The province is betting on wind power, and critics are lining up.

Ontario is already North America’s friendliest jurisdiction for wind and other renewable energy projects, thanks to its recently proclaimed Green Energy Act, meant to speed along approval, and the establishment of European-style 20-year fixed-price energy contracts. (Power companies are now required to integrate all new green energy projects into their grids and pay producers 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour for onshore wind farms, 19 cents/kWh for offshore wind, and up to 80.2 cents/kWh for solar power, versus about six cents/kWh for both hydro and nuclear energy.) The province, which is committed to shutting down its coal-fired plants by 2014, will have 1,200 megawatts of wind power in operation by the end of this year, and there are 103 more “shovel ready” wind developments, totalling 3,263 MW, in the pipeline. The proliferation of giant turbines—80-m-tall towers with 40- to 45-m blades—is already nearing the 5,000 MW supply ceiling the Ontario Power Authority has said it can easily integrate into its aging grid. But soon, there will be no more limits. Smitherman is promising a series of major power infrastructure announcements in coming weeks that will not only make wind a much bigger part of Ontario’s energy mix, but open up vast new areas of the province to commercial wind development.
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Don’t back down on wind turbines

For renewable energy to have a future in Ontario, public support and confidence in wind farms is essential. The province should lead the way by ensuring that Ontarians have access to the most up-to-date research on the impact of wind turbines on public health.

In April, the government said it would fund a university-based research initiative “to examine potential public health effects of renewable energy projects.” But the initiative has not yet been launched. The province ought to make it a priority, with a special focus on wind turbines. That would ensure that Ontario’s regulations governing wind turbines are based on the best possible evidence.

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Group fed up with Gerretsen’s lack of concern over wind-turbine health issues – Calls for resignation

The Coalition for the Protection of Amherst Island is so fed up with John Gerretsen’s lack of concern over the serious health problems being suffered by Ontarians living too close to wind turbines, that they have decided take out the advertisement set out below in the Whig Standard charging that Mr. Gerretsen, as Minister of the Environment, is ignoring the right of Ontarians to a ‘healthful environment’ as provided for under the Environmental Bill of Rights.

The advertisement also accuses the Ministry of the Environment of ruining people’s lives by allowing his Ministry to approve siting wind turbines too close to homes. Further, the ad. states that his Ministry has shown a chilling indifference to the harm caused by the 86 turbines now turning on Wolfe Island knowing that 266 dwellings would be located at or within 1 km of these turbines. The Coalition is calling for a moratorium on further construction of wind turbine farms while full independent medical and noise studies are conducted, and is asking Mr. Gerretsen how many more Ontarians may be put in harm’s way. The media are urged to seek answers to these questions.
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Ottawa Council expected to defeat push for provincial moratorium

A councillor’s push to have the provincial government halt any new wind farms for 18 months until potential health problems caused by the renewable energy projects can be studied is expected to die next month at city council.

Rideau-Goulbourn Councillor Glenn Brooks is pushing for the moratorium because Prowind Canada is working on getting a wind farm approved in his ward, near North Gower. Some area residents aren’t happy with it, including those who claim turbines make people sick.

Brooks says he thinks the application and approval process for wind farms should continue, but none should be built until the study is done.

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Ottawa area Councillor urges study of wind farms for health risks

Ontario officials aren’t receptive to a councillor’s call for the province to halt new wind farms for 18 months until a study can assess whether the green-energy installations pose health risks.

Rideau-Goulbourn Councillor Glenn Brooks was going to ask council to direct the city’s chief medical officer of health to do the study, but the officer says it would be too expensive and time-consuming for his office. So, instead, Brooks says he plans to ask council at next week’s meeting of the rural-affairs committee to call on the province to act.

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