Ont. Signs on 10 New Renewable Energy Projects to Provide 395 Megawatts

Ont. Signs on 10 New Renewable Energy Projects to Provide 395 Megawatts

Nov 24 - Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP) - Ten private renewable energy projects will be built in Ontario by the end of 2007 and will generate enough electricity to power over 100,000 homes annually, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said Wednesday.

The capital investment by private companies to build the new plants is estimated to be $700 million. These projects will produce 395 megawatts of power "which will reduce our dependence on dirty coal-fired plants and enhance air quality throughout the province," Duncan said in a release.

The plants will go part of the way towards helping the government reach its target of having five per cent of the province's electricity come from renewable sources by 2007.

Once built, they'll represent two per cent of Ontario's peak electricity demand.

In total, the government has signed 20-year contracts with private companies to build five wind projects, two small-scale water projects and three facilities that use either biogas, such as sewage, or landfill gas to generate energy.

The average cost the government has agreed to pay is eight cents per kilowatt-hour, up from the province's current average electricity cost of about five cents per kilowatt-hour.

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