Report calls for end to wind power expansion
Tuesday Jul 4, 2017
By John Miner
The writer farms in Huron County
Ontario’s plan to double its wind energy capacity will make a bad situation worse, according to a report published by the Council for Clean and Reliable Energy.
There is already so much intermittent wind [power] generation in the Great Lakes Region that demand is over-supplied, prices are collapsing and generation must be curtailed, said the report released in June by the council, a non-profit organization formed by volunteers from universities, public sector business leaders, and labour.
The report’s author Marc Brouillette, a principal consultant at Strategic Policy Economics, calls on the province to reconsider its commitment to ongoing deployment of wind resources.
“Analysis shows that wind intermittency makes it an unproductive and expensive choice that doesn’t meet customers’ needs and also undermines the price of electricity exports,” says the report titled Ontario’s High-Cost Millstone.
The opportunity to pull back from the plan to expend wind energy comes this summer when Ontario updates its long-term energy plan.
A key part of the problem with wind energy, according to the report, is that it is misaligned with demand because of its intermittent nature.
Ontario’s energy use is highest in the winter and summer and lowest in spring and late fall.
“This is almost a mirror image of wind production patterns: wind is highest in the spring and fall, when electricity needs are lowest, and lowest in summer when electricity demand peaks,” the report notes.
The result is that two-thirds of wind [power] generation is surplus to demand and must be wasted or dissipated either through forced curtailment of hydro and nuclear generation, or by increased exports to Quebec and the United States, generally at low prices.
… Jane Wilson, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of citizens’ groups critical of Ontario’s wind energy program, said the report underscores what two Auditors General told the McGuinty and Wynne governments — they should not have launched the program without any cost-benefit analysis.
“Now, Ontarians are paying four times as much for wind power which is very invasive and has had a huge impact on rural communities for very little benefit. The need for more fossil fuel natural gas to back it up means it is not even achieving the simple environmental goals.
“For people living with the noise and vibration of the huge turbines interfering with their lives, this is outrageous,” Wilson said.
No new wind power approvals should be granted, and development of projects not yet in operation should be halted, she said.
Brandy Gianetta, Ontario regional director for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said the report fails to fully recognize that wind energy is making a significant contribution to Ontario’s electricity supply needs today and this contribution will only grow in future years.
CanWEA contends that Ontario should be securing the lowest [cost] non-greenhouse gas emitting electricity to fill the gap and ensure it can meet its climate goals.
“Wind energy, which is now the least-cost option for new electricity generation available in Ontario, is the best available resource to meet both of those needs, Gianetta said in an email.
FACT CHECK: wind power contributes about 6% of Ontario’s electricity supply, at four times the cost of other power sources; wind power is not the “lowest-cost” option—the turbines are cheap to build but there are many other costs associated with wind power and its intermittency; wind power cannot replace hydro and nuclear—the fact is, coal was replaced by nuclear and natural gas, a fossil-fuel-based power source. Ms Gianetta did not trot out the usual wind industry myth of massive job creation in Ontario because that has proven not to be true, here as in other jurisdictions. Jobs are short-term and related to construction activity, in the main. Other costs associated with wind power such as property value loss, effects on tourism, and human costs in terms of effects on health, have never been calculated.
ajmarciniak 
Comments
The longer CANWEA, the MOECC and the wind companies refuse to protect people who are being harmed, the more costly the legal challenges will be for them.
People being harmed need to save all evidence of their pleas for protection.
Also people need to save all evidence of the loss of property values or added expenses incurred due to this ridiculously unfair imposition and harm.
Everyone needs to see this raw footage regarding climate change data that has deceived so many:
‘I hope Canadians take away two things today: Our rights are not subject to the whims of the government of the day, and there are serious costs when the government violates the rights of its citizens’- Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould
Hmmmmmm…..
Has anyone heard back from the Huron County Health Unit?
The investigation was initiated in March 2016. (Ontario’s HPPA, Health Protection and Prevention Act). Since then we have had one delay after another, and still no remedy for those living under turbines.
As of July 4th, 2017, Erica Clark informed me they have heard back University of Waterloo ethics and are now planning another ethics applications to address concerns raised.
Meanwhile I have been told that all communication of the ethics board, including the names an positions of the applicants, is confidential.
Richard Mann
http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html
How is this gonna work in Ontario when we have negative power right now…
Demand exceeds production ….
We are importing 1300 MW
We are exporting 781 MW
Negative 531MW
With contracts to 13 states and 60 million people will we be included in the distribution or will the very people who pay for the energy exported be left… in the dark….
Things to think about kids….
I have started to watch the video. What is the background of this presentation before the panel?
Wind energy is now the most costly option for electricity generation in Ontario. We also recognize that wind energy is making a significant contribution to the disruption of the Ontario electricity supply and it can only get worse in future years. The manufacture and installation of the windmills generates huge amounts of greenhouse gasses and the service or repairs requires diesel engines generating a steady production of greenhouse gasses as long as that windmill operates.
Windmills in Ontario have proven to be an unreliable, unstable, unpredictable power source of last resort, especially when we need fossil fuels to excite them.
The amount being consumed by the windmill farms was not taken into consideration when that 6% figure was calculated.
I will make an attempt to inform Brandy Gianetta of the truthful facts that I have witnessed!
Stan Thayer CET