Ostrander Point Wind-Farm Case Goes Back To Tribunal

The decision is here.  Put briefly, the case will now get bounced back down to the Ontario ERT, where Ostrander Point Wind Energy will have a chance to convince the tribunal that their proposed remedy, a series of fences and gates that will block public access to the roads around the wind-farm, are enough to prevent "irreversible" harm to the local population of endangered turtles.

Some background can be found here, here, and here.

The Price Of Power, Wind Vs...

Onshore wind power has come of age, and not just in the U.S. This...chart shows the levelized cost of energy worldwide, using data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Average onshore wind power now costs the same as gas worldwide, at about $84 per megawatt hour. That’s without subsidies.

The Beginning Of Something?

OPP in Haldimand County believe the vandals struck the Summerhaven Wind farm project overnight Friday, painting a disassembled tower, setting a fire and causing about $60,000 damage.

As the article notes, the turbine is near where MOE workers removed an active but currently unused bald eagles several weeks back to make way for an expansion of the project.  Last week local first nations protested the removal.

While this vandalism appears to be the first act of its kind, last summer an employee with one of wind companies was the subject of death threats.  Police investigated, but it looks as if nothing came of it.

Pupatello And Wynne Support Offshore Wind

Offshore wind should be a slam-dunk.  After all its offshore, way out of sight of any protesting NIMBYs.  So it is good to know that the two front runners in the OLP leadership race have come out in support of the concept. From a North American Wind Power presser:

The good news is that Sandra Pupatello and Kathleen Wynne - two of the front-runners vying to lead Ontario's Liberal Party - both have expressed support for offshore wind. 

It is worth pointing out that these kinds of projects have even less environmental impact than the on-shore variety:

Siting the project further from the shoreline alleviates much of the avian impact, because 93% to 95% of such incidents happen within 1 km of the shore... 

And its also worth pointing out that the purpose, or at least one purpose, of the Green Energy Act was to get Ontario off coal.  If anyone remembers T.O. summers from the late 1980s, you might recall those smog clouds that would float in over the city and hang there for days, until your sweat tasted of chemicals. They're not so frequent anymore, and the McGuinty's government can take some credit for it.

Let Trillium Build Offshore Turbines

This project should really be a slam-dunk; that its in the state of legal limbo its in is testament to the sheer, crap-flying-out-the-end-of-the-pantlegs panic that gripped the Ontario Liberal Party in the run-up to the last election.  There was never a significant Toronto-based anti-wind faction.  LaForet  never got traction until he took his act to the sticks.  Polls from as  late as 2009 showed general support for a turbine just off Scarborough, and the ones Trillium is talking about now are "located in the centre of Lake Ontario, beside the international border with the United States".  So, no NIMBYS for miles and miles.

Wind Concerns Busted!

A prominent anti-wind-power group is under fire amid accusations it broke election financing by running a negative advertising campaign against Liberal candidates last fall.

[...]

They say Wind Concerns Ontario failed to comply with the Election Finance Act by allegedly spending over the $500 threshold on political advertising during the provincial campaign without registering as a third party.

MacDonald points to billboards that said, “Hudak In Turbines Out,” and a pro-Progressive Conservative speaking tour of 24 ridings carried out by the grassroots anti-wind group.

Ex WCO John Laforet denies that the group put up the billboards.  Here's one of them:

Just popped up there all by themselves, I guess. 

More on the rise and fall of Wind Concerns Ontario (because the group has pretty much shut down since the election) can be found here.  In particular, an account of their possible issues with Elections Ontario can be found here.

Battling Ontario's Anti-Wind NIMBYs

Environmental Defence has a nice take-down of John LaForet and the gang at Wind Concerns Ontario. Below is my favourite bit, because it answers a question that has bothered me for awhile:

A big part of the anti-wind activists’ argument regarding viability is that the wind does not blow all the time – the power is intermittent. While this is true, the fact that wind power is part of an overall electricity system connected to multiple wind projects in different places, other electricity sources, and other jurisdictions who can trade electricity means that intermittency can be planned for and dealt with. Indeed, it is being successfully dealt with in countries likeDenmark, Germany, and Spain which already have much higher levels of wind power on their grids than Ontario does.

[...]

Digging deeper, anti-wind activists claim that wind power must have polluting electricity sources as backup, which just isn't true. Even if it were, it's bizarre to argue for dropping the clean part of the mix, leaving only the dirty part. The reality is that every megawatt hour of wind power delivered to the grid is a megawatt hour that does not have to come from someplace else, clean or otherwise.

At about 2 per cent of Ontario’s electricity output by fuel type,18 wind’s intermittency is currently easily dealt with by other sources. Hydro, for example, accounts for about 20 per cent and can be used as a type of storage, drawing down water levels when wind is low and letting them build up when it is strong. Ontario could also explore pumped storage at hydro facilities, using wind power during strong wind periods to pump water back behind dams to release for power later.19 With a better tie-in to the hydro-rich Quebec grid and more electricity trading with that province, the wind-hydro synergy could improve even more. Manitoba, for example, just signed a $4 billion deal with Minnesota to trade wind and hydro power.20

Finally, anti-wind activists allege that wind power isn’t viable because it is too expensive. It must be pointed out that if cost is their concern, then they should be arguing against nuclear power, currently Ontario’s largest and most expensive source of power, but we rarely hear this from them.

On a somewhat related note, this was a clever prank.  Here's the Facebook page.

The NDP: Doing It Again

...whenever push comes to shove, provincially in the last B.C. election,and federally in 2008, they've willing to toss aside whatever green convictions they might lay claim to for a few cheap political points. This time, its Peter Kormos siding with Wind Concerns Ontario:

Kormos attended a meeting in Wainfleet Saturday, held to discuss concerns about wind turbines planned for Wainfleet.

Neither Kormos nor Welland's federal New Democratic Party MP Malcolm Allen spoke during the meeting attended by nearly 200 people. But Kormos said information provided at the meeting -- by Skydive Burnaby owners Mike and Tara Pitt, by John LaForet from lobby group Wind Concerns Ontario and by other speakers -- was consistent with what the NDP has concluded about ongoing installation of industrial wind turbines across Ontario.

A couple of things are going on here. The Pitts drop their clients on the other side of proposed turbine, and you can see their being worried that one of these clients might wind up rather finely chopped in the turbine blades; on the other hand, the developer does seem to have attempted a response to their concerns.

And then there's John Laforet of Wind Concerns Ontario, a Scarborough boy whose been dragging his small band of supporters around the province, playing to NIMBYs and lecturing the locals on local democracy. Bucket's has written of the astro-turfy nature of WCO, and so has The Disaffected Lib, at somewhat greater length. There's been some media coverage of the "anger" in rural Ontario over these turbines, but such stories seem over-blown. At least, the only polling I've seen on the issue (admittedly from 2009) demonstrated overwhelming support for industrial wind-farms, both inside the GTA and beyond its boundaries. So I suspect the anger noted does not extend much past whatever room the WCO travelling show is performing in at the time.

In any case, I don't see this one ending too well for Kormos and the provincial NDP. In B.C. their attack on Gordon Campbell's carbon tax back-fired horribly, splitting the enviro movement and setting back their campaign in its early stages. I don't see how Kormos and Co. can really imagine that stealing ideas from Tim Hudak will shore up their support her in Ontario.

PS. WCO and other groups of like nature tend to rely heavily on the "peer reviewed" research of Nina Pierpoint. What "peer review" means in this instance is that her husband proof-read her self-published manuscripts.

Wind: What Lawrence Solomon Emits

He blithers as follows:

The role of wind farms in the soaring power bills is not yet widely understood, just as the role of nuclear reactors in the rising power bills of two decades ago wasn't initially understood. As this understanding takes hold, and as wind's environmental costs become better known, the pushback will grow and wind will come to symbolize out-of-scale technology and arrogance-- the new nuclear.

Well, a year is a long time in politics, but as of last April the rebellion hadn't materialized:

Seventy-nine per cent (79%) of Scarborough residents support Toronto Hydro's plan to put a wind measuring device off the Scarborough shore, while 84 per cent of Essex County residents support plans to build wind farms there.

"What we're seeing in Essex County and Scarborough is not only strong support for the Green Energy Act, but strong support for local wind energy initiatives," said Dan Arnold of Pollara.

And since then the only real resistance I see to government efforts at making Ontario a green energy manufacturing center are from a bunch of NIMBYs with highly alleged health concerns.

Of course, Tim Hudak is looking to ride any angry populist wave he can find; so what's he going to do to stem the tide of turbines? Pretty much nothing, as it turns out. I'd bet it's because he doesn't see a wave coming from that direction.

Wind 2.0

Each "stalk" doesn't generate a lot of power, but you can put more per square whatever. They look pretty from ground level, and I imagine they're easier on the local avian population.

h/t

Coming Soon To Ontario

The story is here (and good on Dalton, by the way: close the car plants and those auto-workers can make turbines.). But in the picture they're actually doing it wrong!

H/T

Scarborough Loves The WInd

'News reports would have us believe that Scarborough is a hotbed of anti-wind sentiment, but the poll clearly shows that this is manufactured and exaggerated,' said Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director of Environmental Defence. 'Plans to test the offshore wind potential are supported by a majority of those living in Scarborough who want to see renewable energy in their city.'

Essex county, another proposed wind-farm site, is also highly supportive.

Okay, I don't know much about Pollara, the folks behind the poll, but 79% and 84% on the pro side are very robust numbers, and I think the least we can assume is that the NIMBYS are outnumbered.

Green Conservative Gets The NIMBYs

They're coming to build wind-mills in David Frum's back-yard, and suddenly he's agin' it. This is the Conservative who's been trumpeting his green credentials, and in particular his support for alternative energy and a carbon tax, for years now. Of course during the last federal election he went 100% silent on the issue, only to pop up afterwards--with Harper safely in office again and the issue back on the furthest back of the back-burners--to start promoting it again! I guess he expects other people to "substitute away from oil". Out there in Prince Edward County they're sticking with the old ways.

Power From Traffic, Redux

Another attempt at generating "green energy":

A new type of road being developed in Israel uses crystals embedded in the asphalt to turn the vibration caused by cars into electricity.

Engineers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology claim the piezoelectric crystals can produce up to 400 kilowatts from a 1-kilometre stretch of dual carriageway. The system is to be tested on a 100-metre stretch of road in northern Israel in January.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Many predict a massive shift to electric cars, and it may be the roads themselves that help provide some of the power needed.”

Well, I doubt this last bit, as converting the entire (for example) British road system to this technology would only generate enough power to drive 34,500 small cars. Still, any projects attempting to harvest and use waste energy are to be encouraged.

And this reminds me of a Centenial College experiment from a few years back in which students tried to determine whether wind generated by traffic on the 401 could power a turbine. It could not, unfortunately:

Average wind speeds over a year, recorded at a 30-metre height, are "right on the margins of what would make a wind project there feasible," said Herb Sinnock, a Centennial instructor who helped make the case for installing the device.

Though a turbine was not built in T.O., here's an artist's conception of what one might look like:

Cool huh? Mind you, if one got loose and started rolling East at 60 Mph...

Wind Power From The Great Lakes

While our federal government's environmental portfolio has been a disaster, there has been a buzz of activity at the Provincial level, including Quebec's new carbon tax and a kind of mini cap-and-trade market in Alberta.

Now, thankfully, the Government of Ontario is getting on board:

Ontario is preparing to lift a controversial moratorium on the development of offshore wind projects in the Great Lakes that has been in place for nearly 14 months, the Toronto Star has learned.

These projects are not without issues. Some

"The biggest issue to most residents was how it affected their view of the lake, which is really only the last natural view we have in our area."

...seem like pure NIMBYism; others

...many residents saw negative impacts on lake navigation, bird and butterfly migration...

...are real but can be planned for and thereby minimized.

So, there is some good news out there. Take it where you can find it, I guess.

Limousine Liberals

I can't stand 'em. Here's an example why:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Cape Cod Commission in Massachusetts Thursday denied Cape Wind's application to bury electric cables needed to connect its proposed 420-megawatt offshore wind farm in the Nantucket Sound to the state power grid. Cape Wind said in a release that it would challenge the Commission decision. The Cape Cod Commission is a local organization created by the state in 1990 to manage growth and protect Cape Cod's natural resources. Sen. Ted Kennedy and many residents who own coastal property from where they could see the wind turbines on a clear day oppose the project along with some environmental groups concerned about disrupting the patterns of migratory birds and the potential effect on local sea life."

Oh my Lord! Their immensely wealthy eyes might be stung from viewing the plebeian, industrial ugliness required to produce clean energy!

But wait! Here's another one closer to home:

GULF SHORE — Nova Scotia’s songbird wishes a proposed wind farm in Gulf Shore would just fly away.

Singer Anne Murray, who has a summer home in the area, is joining other residents in opposing the construction by Atlantic Wind Power Corp. of 20 to 27 100-metre-high wind turbines in the province’s northwest corner.

“I just think it’s too close. It’s in all our backyards,” said Murray, who grew up in nearby Springhill. “I think wind power is a good thing, and I am all for them when they’re in the right place. I don’t believe these ones are in the right place.”

Not in the right place. Not in your backyard, in other words. But wait! Didn't you write on David Suzuki's website that:

"It is incumbent upon us all to try harder when it comes to our environment. We must 'turn things around'. I will take up the challenge."

There's no "us" in "you", I guess.

Not the kind of behavior to make believers out of the cynical.