(Niagara At Large is posting the following August 3 submission from Ontario’s opposition Conservative Party for our readers information.)
“The solar inverter plant in Toronto hasn’t opened… Samsung hasn’t signed a deal for its module plant in London… the blade plant in Tillsonburg was supposed to employ 300 people but there are fewer than 35 people at work there… While the (wind tower company) has been open since March of 2011, it hasn’t received a single order from Samsung, and that’s the whole reason it came here…” “Within the last eight months, the (Windsor-Essex) area has seen the sudden closure of new facilities run by Silken SA, Uni-Solar and Windtronics… resulting in the elimination of 190 real jobs and hundreds more prospective positions…”
– from July 31 CTV and Windsor Star coverage of our “very strong” renewables sector
August 3, 2012
“VERY STRONG” RENEWABLES SECTOR? NO, A COSTLY BUST; PC ENERGY CRITIC VIC FEDELI
NORTH BAY – Energy Minister Chris Bentley is sadly mistaken if he really believes his government’s wind and solar experiments on taxpayer life-support are “very strong”, as he recently claimed, Ontario PC Energy Critic Vic Fedeli said today.
“Even when they’re up and running, these projects are kept afloat by massive subsidies which pay producers between double and 10 times the going rate for electricity,” Fedeli said. “They are driving energy costs to among the highest in North America, pushing manufacturers out of Ontario and leading to power surpluses that we must export at huge losses.”
And that’s just when the sun shines and the wind blows, Fedeli added. “But the evidence is mounting across Ontario that much of the Liberals’ wind and solar house of cards is starting to collapse before producing so much as one megawatt of output. The Samsung jobs in particular simply aren’t turning up – just as we have said all along would be the case.”
Fedeli cited news coverage from Tuesday on multiple failures by Samsung to deliver on the promise of 900 new jobs, $7 billion in investment and four new Ontario factories, as well as on the closure of three renewables facilities in Windsor-Essex at a cost of 190 jobs: “Yet despite all this, Bentley was quoted as saying the sector is ‘very strong’ in the area,” Fedeli noted.
It all stands as further proof that Tim Hudak and the Ontario PCs are on the right track in calling for an end to the unsustainable FIT and micro-FIT subsidies – together with more sweeping reform of the energy sector to bring down costs for businesses and consumers alike and create jobs, as proposed in their Paths to Prosperity: Affordable Energy white paper, Fedeli said.
“Survey after business survey shows that high energy costs are killing jobs, driving existing manufacturers out of Ontario and keeping would-be investors from coming in,” Fedeli said. “And as the Auditor General found, for each job created through renewable energy programs, two to four are often lost elsewhere in the economy through higher electricity costs.
“Our province is on the wrong path under this government. We need a new direction with bold, new ideas to stop its reckless overspending and create jobs, by getting our fiscal house in order and our economic fundamentals right – and affordable energy is a big one.”
(Niagara At Large invites our readers to share their views on this post below. Please remember that NAL only posts comments by individuals who also share their first and last names.)
Niagara At Large 
The alternative, which is ignoring scientific reality and evidence-based policy -making, is a bigger bust than the Conservatives can imagine.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719
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Just a couple of questions:
-Are other energy suppliers and non-related industries in Ontario getting big subsidies from the taxpayers?
-What wind/ solar companies will invest in a market where there is so much uncertainty and so little support?
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Answers:
1. Taxpayers are Not subsidising renewable energy – Ratepayers are,
OTOH, taxpayers ARE subsidising Nuclear power by picking up all expenses over $100M if ever a Three-Mile-Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima occurs in Ontario. Have you ever heard of an evacuation plan for Southern Ontario? How about just the Golden Horseshoe? Or even Toronto? Or Durham, where Pickering and Darlington are located?
2. This is where McGuinty has mucked up his Green Energy Act. At every turn, he makes stupid, bureaucratic decisions which change the rules mid-term, and discourage investors. Despite this, there is still a lot of interest in the microFIT and FIT programmes, but ….
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I would hope that the Ontario Conservatives measure their attacks on the Liberal Government with concrete ideas on — NEEDED BASE LODE REQUIREMENTS —not for just today but for well into the future. Because this is certainly not a time for piling on the Liberal Rabbit –But a time for all parties to act as the PEOPLES government and put the politics aside and lead our Province to a clean affordable sources of electrical generation. The Liberals should be atleast given credit for starting the process of incorporating alternatives , although some ideas have not panned out ! But even if some of the ideas were bad ideas 180 degrees from that is a good idea! Some of the drawbacks to wind and solar have been pointed out in the previous posts in ,”wind farm opponents urge Niagara Region to Reject Green Capital of Canada title”. But no one gives enough creedance to Conservation,Retrofitting and Reusing waste gases in existing industries to generate electricity for their own use as well as excess capacity ( since it is generated 24/7 ) to help with Provincial Base Lode Requirements. As of now these industries require Ontario to produce their electrical needs through basic generating capacity therefore wind and solar cannot be considered in the equation. But if we aided them to produce their own needs , while using their dirty polluting gases in the generating of this power we win threefold! First we reduce the need for Ontario to build new and expensive Base Lode Capacity. Second we reduce air pollution by building small co-gens fitted to a single or a group of factories that would have state of the art pollution devices to capture any pollution before it gets into the airshed! As of now some of these factories have no pollution controls. Why not aid these factories who employ our people and who pay taxes to produce needed Base Lode as opposed to supporting wind turbines who produce power you can’t count on —oh and as well do not pay taxes! Thirdly we would be employing Ontario Companies as well as Ontario Workers to do these retrofits and not be giving Billions to a Foreign Country to build windmills!!
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While some of your info is incorrect John, you should be aware that Ontario provides incentives to business to do exactly what you suggest: Conserve, Retrofit (upgrade) and Re-use resources.
Almost all retrofits are done by Ontario companies.
Any company that locates here provides jobs & pays taxes in Ontario, whether or not they are foreign-owned.
Wind and Solar are still much better -and Cheaper!- than the Nuclear plants that provide 50+% of the lights in your house. those Nuclear plants are reaching retirement. How much will it cost to store the waste fuel, concrete and steel for 10,000 years? Will you let them move it across Ontario (through the Welland Canal?) to store in an old salt mine 4000′ under Lake Huron? And can you begin to imagine the cost to Replace those plants with new ones?
Wind and Solar will work wonderfully, after various methods of electricity storage are perfected. There are currently about 15 methods in various stages of use or development cross the world, from the pumped water reservoir at Niagara Falls to the compressed-air balloon underwater in Lake Ontario.
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Re-Bill McKibben’s Rolling Stone propaganda piece. He is batting .1000. Every prediction he’s made is either dead wrong or hasn’t materialized.
A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – for those of you who may be wondering about the above reference to Bill McKibben and Rolling Stone. McKibben has an article in one of the latest issues of Rolling Stone Magazine arguing that the impacts of climage change are accelerating. Of course, the article touches on the need for we humans to take steps to reduce emissions of carbon linked to the burning of fossil fuels and related petro-chemical products. This, of course, is not something that opponents of renewable energy alternatives like solar and wind power want to hear, so anyone who raises concern about human-induced climate change must also be trashed as a fearmonger or fraud artist.
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John:
So you have a website which actually proves that McKibben is worng?
You and I agree that -while the Climate always Changes- CO2 may not be the cause. We have a friend who drilled down into the Wainfleet Marsh for a BA thesis at Brock, only to find that there was pollen from trees growing there ~1500 years ago … that are only found in the southern USA today! Obviously, humans burning fossil fuels didn’t cause that warm era, eh?
A British Army surveyor crossed the prairies ~1850 and said that people couldn’t live there because it was so dry. It sure was dry during the 1930’s!
And there are diary records of Arctic explorers ~1900 finding open water at higher latitudes than we find today.
I’m open to finding out the mechanisms of Climate Change, but the science is Not settled. Even worse, when those IPCC guys lied in ClimateGate 2009, they set back the world’s research by a decade, because we need to re-do their calculations from scratch.
Doug:
You and I still haven’t figured out how to stop driving our cars, even in this easy-electronic-communication era, so why are we even writing about this – we’re hypocrites!
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Every prediction James Hansen has made has become reality.
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Human-casued cilmate change is here, and it is ridiculously expensive on all levels … and yet Conservatives will bend over backwards (and then some) for oil companies (billions in subsidies, incompetent regulations, selling out to foreign, state-owned enterprises) while they do NOTHING to create infrastructure for a low carbon future.It’s failing libertarian market approach that is a huge disservice to Canada and the world.
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Mark I have a suggestion that is not rediculously expensive on any level and reduces are carbon footprint immediately! All that is required is for the government to reduce the speed limit on the highways and in the cities. You are a man that is adept at finding out hard factual evidence , I am sure there must be data on the savings in the pocket book as well the huge savings to our planet. This would be as well easy to police by bringing back photo radar. The loss of privacy of photo radar pales in comparison to the loss in all other aspects of life! Could you imagine a possible reduction of 30% in the use of fossil fuel happening instantly around the world . To say the least the cost of crude and all distillates would plunge giving a much needed kick start to the world economy . Everything from food to paint to transportation to energy would fall in value and not just rear its head latter because if the lower speed limits remained in place, that 30% less usage compared in todays production would remain ( approx) . I know you are for wind –I am as well but in the right context as I have posted before. But by the use of a simple bit of legastation these savings could happen tomorrow and at no cost!
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John, we need the price of petro to reflect its true value. Take out the government subsidies (remove Harper and Hudak at the same time), and charge a carbon tax for polluting our atmosphere and creating droughts and filling hospitals with patients and so on. Once carbon is set at its real price, then people in this region will be more receptive to non-polluting alternatives, as the Europeans are. This may mean hydro imports from Quebec, nuclear de-commissioning (afterall, taxpayers pay the full tab for expensive, dangerous nuclear), and of course wind turbines, underwater turbines, solar etc. We might even become innovators. Of course we’d also have to improve infrastructure. At the very least, make trains lines dedicated (one for cargo, and one for passengers), but we may as well go further and build High Speed rail for busy corridors. Rail creates many good paying jobs. We’d have to slow down, and stop new development of the tar sands to address the Dutch Disease. We’d have to build refineries here once the dollar is lower, and we’d have to tell our remaining Chinese friends that royalties just took a huge jump, so it’ll cost them plenty to exploit our valuable resources, and even more for messing with our democratic institutions. (They might even respect us more.) They’d have to know that we have time… no sense extracting it all right now, especially with Global Warming. Once Harper and Hudak are gone, we can address other problems, including our sheltered, bailed-out banks, our military/industrial complex, media monopolies, pharmaceutical industry etc.
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They Have reduced the speed limit John – try driving to/from Toronto on the QEW and literally sitting still or crawling along! I really wish I could get to my clients by transit, but it won’t work. I need a car and it needs fuel.
BTW, with hyper-miling, I’ve been able to reduce my gasoline consumption by ~25%, from 8L to travel 100km, to 6L pre 100km. And it’s made me a better driver by having to anticipate traffic and avoid needless braking and accelerating.
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Fossil Fuels suck …
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Suzuki takes an interview at Occupy Montreal some time ago:
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Mark could you explain how we maintain base lode with the amount of alternative capacity I think you are expousing? . Even in your posts you say ,When we develop efficient battery storage capacity there should be no problem . I agree there will be less of a problem , but we are not there yet. Believe me I want some magic clean source of power as much as any body but to go off and pursue something that is not going to pan out is not just a waste of tax payers money but will do nothing for the enviroment in the long run. You also mention Carbon Tax , again I agree as long as it is dedicated for alternates to the car . IN another post I mentioned that the rest of the world must be scratching their heads seeing we ar surronded by water and the welland canal and we do not move people and cars by ferry not to mention truck and cargo. Plus we have a huge source of generation in our back yard it would only make sense to couple it with high speed rail service ( People and Cargo). But if any one can remember the results of Photo Radar ( calming traffic, actually faster arrival times because no one was speeding to the next bottle neck but moved at a constant flow, and you cannot refute the gas savings!)
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Lorne as I mentioned to Mark no one wants clean energy more than I do . I am not against wind , solar , biomass or any other option but as you said When they develop proper battery capacity coupled with a zero resitance transmission system then these forms of generation could be considered for base lode production. But until then they are at best intermitant sources of generating capacity and are very expensive when you factor in the Gas CO-GENS needed to provide the flexability in a old system that has removed Coal therefore removed the only flexability that it had to easily transition these alternatives in to the system. Natural Gas still produces green house Gas , The cost of new transmission lines is huge for an intermitant power source to come from far flung areas to where it is needed . You have mentioned other sources of storage as I understand they have met with little success. I have mentioned in other posts that in order for intermitant power generation to be viable that it should not be hooked up to the grid but located in willing jurisdictions where it is used to produce Hydrogen Gas . This can be stored or shipped through existing pipelines to end users and when it is burned it’s end product is H2O.
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Comment: my reference to Bill McKibben was not stating he is a fraudster but he certainly is an alarmist and not above using hyperbolic rhetoric to make a point. Last week he tweeted that the glass globes on a lamp post in the very hot and dry state of Oklahoma that had melted were proof of global warming. The real story was the lamp was over a dumpster that had caught on fire and had generated temperatures in excess of 1,000 Deg. F,
Here’s an analysis of wind power by University of Edinburgh’s, Gordon Hughes.
Click to access hughes-windpower.pdf
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Thanks John for pointing me to that web site. I have been expressing my feelings on wind generation for a long time and have taken a lot of heat for my views. I have slowly seen the realization come to a lot of people who were proponents of wind before that the true cost and benefits of wind are just not there. I so wish it was not true ! But better to be realistic on what alternatives can and cannot achieve in order for us to make informative decisions on the future of our Generating Capacity. One only has to remember the promise of Ethonal to only see it cost Billions in Plants and the removal of prime agricultural land then just watch it fade in relevance.
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Would like to see the oil subsidies stop. If the Conservatives don’t like tax dollars going to the alternatives, why do they keep financing the fracking and transporting/production of finite resources that have thus far ruined the environment? They can’t speak on both sides of the fence.
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Every time I see “fossil” and “Suzuki” in the same post I know that someone has it right.
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The Ignorance Industry (Petro lobby etc.) is very effective at suppressing alternative energy. The Europeans, China etc know better. Canada will continue to languish at the back of the pack as long as we have politicians such as Harper and Hudak attracting votes, aided and abetted as they are by media conglomerates, Republican influences etc.
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Every time I see “The Past” commenting on “The Future” I know that The Past will be (fortunately enough) dead and gone, soon———–>”Updating their official stance on the relationship between climate change and weather events, the American Meteorological Society (AMS), has now stated plainly that the warming world is a fact beyond reproach and that human activity—despite some natural variability—is the main force behind such changes.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/28-0
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