|
McGuinty Government Announces North America's
First Clean Energy Standard Offer Program
TORONTO, Jun 14, 2007 -- Canada NewsWire Two new initiatives that help reduce barriers for small energy generators and encourage larger co-generation projects will increase Ontario's supply of cleaner energy, Minister of Energy Dwight Duncan announced today. "These programs will move us forward in our efforts to strengthen our electricity supply and help clean our air," said Duncan, speaking at the Canadian District Energy Association Conference. "We're building a better electricity system for Ontario, and there's much more to come." The Clean Energy Standard Offer Program is the first of its kind in North America and will reduce barriers to small generators and distributed energy projects that use natural gas or surplus energy streams. Small generators who meet the program criteria will be offered 20-year contracts for the power they produce by the Ontario Power Authority. "Promoting cleaner sources of energy and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels is just one way the McGuinty government is fighting climate change and making Ontario a greener and healthier place to live," said Minister of the Environment Laurel Broten. The Clean Energy Standard Offer Program will be modeled on the Ontario Power Authority's innovative Renewables Standard Offer Program for small projects using renewable sources - solar, wind, bio-mass and water power. In just six months, contracts have been executed for more than 75 projects in communities across the province, providing some 400 megawatts of clean, renewable power. "The government of Ontario is taking another bold step forward by creating the first Clean Standard Offer Program in North America," said Ken Ogilvie, Executive Director of Pollution Probe. "Pollution Probe believes that co-generation can and must play a significant role in addressing Ontario's future energy needs." The province is also moving ahead with the next phase of Ontario's Combined Heat and Power initiative. The Ontario Power Authority will begin a Request for Expressions of Interest, intended as the next step towards combined heat and power procurements for larger co-generation projects. This follows a successful Combined Heat and Power procurement completed last fall - the first of its kind in Canada. In October 2006, the Ontario Power Authority awarded seven contracts with a total capacity of 414 megawatts. These projects represent a total capital investment of some $800 million being invested in communities across the province that include Windsor, Kingsville, London, Oshawa, Markham, Sault Ste. Marie and Thorold. "The district energy sector is very pleased with the Clean Energy Standard Offer Program announced at today's conference," said Bruce Ander, Chair of the Canadian District Energy Association. "This is continuing evidence of the McGuinty government's support for Ontario's district energy sector. The CDEA looks forward to working with the McGuinty government and other stakeholders to finalize the program and begin building and expanding clean energy projects across Ontario." The Ministry of Energy will work with the Ontario Energy Board and other stakeholders to identify and assess regulatory and institutional barriers to the implementation of clean energy technologies. All Ontarians have a role to play in making Ontario greener. The government is taking action by protecting a greenbelt that stretches across southern Ontario from development, introducing tough new laws that protect our drinking water, producing more renewable energy and doing more to conserve electricity. Disponible en francais. Clean Energy Standard Offer Program North America's First Clean Energy Standard Offer Program The innovative Clean Energy Standard Offer Program is intended to support greater use of clean sources of energy to generate electricity in Ontario. The program removes obstacles for smaller clean-source generating projects (10 megawatts or less) by providing a simplified process and stable pricing over a 20-year contract. Clean energy is essentially power derived from burning natural gas or from the capture and use of by-product fuels or surplus energy. Specifically, a clean energy project is one of: - A natural gas fuel-fired combined heat and power project, involving the concurrent production of both heat and electricity - A by-product fuel-fired generation project - A surplus energy generation project (for example one that captures excess heat from industrial processes).
The program will further encourage distributed generation in Ontario, resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions, increased reliability, reduced peak demand and reduced transmission losses in our electricity system. For combined heat and power applications, typical generators will include any industrial, commercial or institutional operation with a demand for heat. Surplus energy applications include using heat from industrial ovens or process gases to make steam to run generators. The program will compensate generators based on a regular operating schedule and, when contributing power to the grid, rates will be incremental to the Hourly Ontario Electricity Price. An Ontario Power Authority and energy industry working group will be formed immediately; the program will launch in the fall and be in place by the end of 2007. "Today's announcement is very gratifying moment. APPrO has been pushing for a standard offer program for small natural gas, or under-utilized heat, or under-utilized energy generation projects for some time, because it is good for the environment, good for the electricity system, and a good value proposition for participating generators and rate payers alike," said David Butters, president of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario. "We intend to work closely with the OPA over the next several months to make sure that the CESOP is as big a success as it possibly can be." Disponible en francais SOURCE: Ontario Ministry of Energy News Provided By |
