Canada - Government of Ontario wants feed-in tariffs and proposes Green Energy Act

Half a year after the 7th World Wind Energy Conference was held in Kingston/Ontario, the government of the Canadian province of Ontario has proposed a Green Energy Act which is likely to become a law in the near future. WWEA strongly welcomes this step and has written a letter to the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of Ontario, the Hon. George Smitherman:

Bonn, 27 February 2009

Ontario's Proposed Green Energy Act

Honourable Minister Smitherman,

We would like to compliment you and your Government on the proposal of a Green Energy Act that was presented earlier this week. We are strongly impressed that half a year after you gave your first speech in your new capacity as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure during our World Wind Energy Conference (WWEC 2008) in Kingston, you and your Government have actually kept your promise and you are now ready to take the necessary and effective next steps for the broad and immediate deployment of renewable energy in Ontario.

Based on the suggested legislation, Ontario has the potential of becoming one of the leading jurisdictions for renewable energy, not only in Canada and North America but worldwide. Following the theme of our WWEC 2008, Community Power, we feel that Ontario may indeed become a leader in decentralised renewable energy and citizens' ownership of the energy supply system with citizens actually becoming the drivers of the shift towards a new Green Economy, including tens
or even hundreds of thousands of new Green Jobs.

In this context, we would like to especially highlight the following aspects:

· We especially welcome that your Ministry will be mandated to direct the Ontario Power Authority to set up feed-in tariffs for electricity from renewable energy as the primary mechanism of
procurement.

· We strongly welcome that the goals of such feed-in tariffs will be the participation of aboriginal people as well as of local communities. Wind energy and other renewable energies need to be harvested in a decentralised way and only the strong support and broad involvement of local communities will ensure that we achieve the necessary huge growth rates.

· We strongly welcome that your Government aims at a mandatory and priority grid access for renewable energy projects and that transmitters and distributors will be obliged to expand or reinforce the transmission and distribution systems.

· We welcome that your government aims to develop a strong and diverse domestic renewable and wind industry by taking political provisions that at least part of the equipment will be manufactured
domestically, within Ontario.

· We are impressed that the proposed Act explicitly declares the use of renewable energies in Ontario as a top priority which must be integrated into the foundation principles of the province.

Assuming that the proposed Green Energy Act will be adopted by the Parliament of Ontario in the near future, we would like to encourage you to introduce immediately afterwards and without delay the corresponding regulations such as the definition of the feed-in tariff. This time of the threefold global crisis, the energy crisis, the financial crisis and the environmental/climate crisis, has opened up a window of opportunity for Ontario to become a pioneer and world leader in overcoming these huge challenges.

For the next steps in the implementation of the Green Energy Act we would like to offer you once again our full support. Of course we are aware that your Government is already working closely with our member, the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, which has many community power initiatives as their members representing a broad expertise within Ontario. Also two of our board members from North America have already contributed their advice to the legislative process and we suggest that you continue the close consultation with all of them.

I would also like to offer you access to our worldwide network of experts beyond those you have already contacted. WWEA's membership is spread over 90 countries and includes many additional leading experts in policy-making such as feed-in tariffs, which may be of use while developing and implementing the feed-in tariff and beyond.

Once again, we would like to wish you, your Government and the Province of Ontario great success for a Green Future, based on a renewable energy economy emerging from a successful Green Energy Act.

With kind regards

Stefan Gsänger
Secretary General
World Wind Energy Association

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net