Green energy Act empowers communities.(BIOMASS)

There was a time when many cities and small towns throughout Ontario were self-sufficient in electricity. Located on the numerous rivers that run throughout the province, communities such as Thunder Bay and Kirkland Lake, by the turn of the 20th century, were producing the electricity to light their streets and homes and drive their businesses, mines and mills.

Communities lost much of their power independence over time. The push by the Harris government, in the 1990s, to privatize public municipal utilities threatened communities with taxes penalties if they didn't submit to market forces.

Today, communities are once again being given the opportunity to become energy producers. In the new Green Energy Act, the provincial government is setting the stage for the comeback of community power with profitable prices for renewable energy, changes to existing legislation that allows for the establishment of energy co-ops and provisions that will encourage municipalities to produce clean, sustainable power.

Power to the People

And the people are ready. All across the province, people are putting up solar panels, installing geothermal heat pumps, and making plans to erect wind turbines in their communities, motivated by the urgent need to address climate change. However, this grassroots enthusiasm for renewables has, until now, been stifled by inappropriate regulations, vested interests and a backward looking mindset stuck on big utilities. The Green Energy Act aims to break down these barriers.

First and foremost, the government intends to implement a program of feed-in tariffs: long-term, guaranteed prices for renewable energy These tariffs level the playing field for small, community-owned generators by preventing large-scale, commercial companies from undercutting them with lower prices. Feed-in tariffs are also an excellent financial incentive for everyone from individuals who want to install a solar system on their rooftop to farmers who erect windmills in their fields to municipalities that revive their old hydro plants to get in the game of producing energy. Recognizing that not all communities are located in the windiest areas, a higher tariff just for community-based wind power is being offered.

The Green Energy Act would make it much easier to establish renewable energy co-ops. Currently co-operatives are limited to serving primarily their own members. However, as electricity is, for most projects, to be fed into the power grid, it is impossible for a co-operative to deliver the electricity it generates directly to its members. The Green Energy Act recognizes and resolves this dilemma.

Municipalities would also be able to contribute to the supply of green energy. Under the proposed legislation, they would be allowed to develop projects up to 10 MW without having to create a separate legal body. Municipalities could easily dust off their old hydro dams or use waste wood as biomass to heat local homes and businesses and produce electricity.

Finally, First Nations are being encouraged by this Act to build, own and operate their own renewable energy projects. Provisions in the legislation would require that Aboriginal people be consulted when planning, developing or procuring electricity and transmission systems. As well, the Ontario Power Authority may be instructed to establish programs, and possibly fund a portion of them to assist Aboriginal community with their renewable energy initiatives.

More revenue for community

The proposed legislation recognizes that communities benefit economically much more from small scale, locally owned energy projects than they do from large, centralized power generators. This was illustrated in several studies undertaken in Iowa. The results revealed that locally owned wind generation creates up to 10 times more economic activity in the local community and state than does wind generation owned by out-of-state companies. When the owners are local citizens, they are more likely to purchase more local materials for construction and hire more local residents and profits stay in the community too. According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, in conventional energy systems, like that of Ontario, at least 75 cents of each energy dollar leaves the local economy.

Local owners accountable to neighbours

While rural, struggling farmers can boost their incomes by leasing their land to wind power companies, "the lease payments made to farmers by commercial wind project developers typically pale in comparison to the income the farmer could earn if he instead owned the turbine himself, or in conjunction with other members of his local community," according to one of the analysis. And of course, generating energy closer to where it is used reduces the cost transmission and distribution and line losses.

Community power also has social benefits. Local energy owners who have more control over their project and benefit directly are less likely to oppose renewable energy projects. They are also more accountable to their neighbours and more familiar with areas that need to be protected from development ensuring neither local residents nor the environment is adversely affected.

Energy co-ops dominate

In Europe, community ownership has impelled the rapid and widespread deployment of renewable energy, enabling Germany to produce 14 per cent of its energy from green sources and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by thousands of tonnes. There, community members own half the renewable energy projects. In Denmark, 88 per cent of the wind turbines are owned either by farmers or communities. The Green Energy Act could replicate Europe's success here and enable us all to be energy conservers and generators and not just consumers.

By JANE STORY

Manager of Policy and Communications, The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association For Northern Ontario Business

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