Green or gone?.
Is this solar-powered Winchester home a sign of the times or the last of its kind?
J.P. ANTONACCI / The Advance
The Oct. 6 provincial election is shaping up to be a referendum of sorts on the Liberal Party’s vision to turn Ontario into a global green energy centre.
At stake is the future of the Green Energy Act, which the Liberals contend reduces carbon emissions while creating jobs in the province’s lagging manufacturing industry, and the Conservatives claim drives up consumer hydro prices.
If elected, Conservative leader Tim Hudak has pledged to end the feed-in-tariff programs – FIT and microFIT – the Liberals created to spur investment in solar and wind energy projects by paying higher than market prices for electricity generated from renewable resources.
Hudak would also kill the Liberals’ much-debated ‘Samsung deal,’ which would see a Korean consortium led by Samsung invest $7 billion in the province to make components for green energy projects, creating 16,000 manufacturing jobs over six years at four new plants, and producing 2,500 megawatts in clean energy. In exchange, Ontario would give the consortium $110 million in subsidies over 20 years, and a preferential spot on the province’s power grid.
Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to revive Ontario’s sluggish economy by turning the province into a green energy powerhouse that would in future manufacture renewable energy systems for international markets, such as the U.S.
Manufacturers of renewable energy equipment that have already established themselves in Ontario are concerned that the end of the FIT program under the Conservatives would spell the end of the green energy industry altogether.
Green energy was a hot topic at the Sept. 21 Leeds-Grenville candidates debate at the North Grenville Municipal Centre.
Liberal candidate Ray Heffernan said he is “100 per cent behind the green energy movement.” He admits there have been growing pains with the FIT program, but believes green energy has the potential to revitalize the province.
“We have an opportunity, especially in Leeds-Grenville, to be at the cutting edge of a program and a technology that will, frankly, (do) what the auto industry did for our province decades ago,” Heffernan said.
The economics of the Samsung deal make it a no-brainer, he contended, dismissing concerns that a foreign corporation would be investing in the province. “GM’s not a Canadian company, but we sure welcomed them in,” he said.
The Green Energy Act had “great potential” to lower carbon emissions and generate revenue for local businesses and farmers, but it has failed, said Charlie Taylor of the Green Party.
Taylor said the Samsung agreement “has caused such anger in some communities that green energy has almost become a bad word. And green energy shouldn’t be a bad word. We’re in real danger now that we’re going to have a Conservative government that will set us back to the dark ages as a result of that backlash,” he said.
Incumbent MPP Steve Clark said his Conservatives support green energy. “Where we differ from the other parties is affordability,” he said, arguing that hydro rates would rise under the current direction.
“By 2015, a residential hydro bill s going to go up another $735. We live in Canada – heating our home is not a luxury,” Clark said.
The Liberals have guaranteed the rates for currently approved FIT projects, which means a Hudak government would have to abide by them.
Ontario would do well to emulate thriving green economies like Germany’s, where the largest consumer of steel is the windmill production industry, and the country boasts many high-paying, unionized green energy jobs, said NDP candidate David Lundy.
“What we have now is a Conservative party that’s decided, let’s stick with the old. Let’s not progress into the future,” Lundy said. He sees green manufacturing as a way to keep youth in the riding by providing steady jobs at a living wage. “Here’s an opportunity to bring green – as in dollars – into rural Ontario,” he said.
The future of the feed-in-tariff programs is of particular interest to North Grenville, where the mayor and council are considering applying for several microFIT projects to make use of solar capability on municipal buildings. Under one proposal suggested by Ecogen Energy Inc. president Chris Weissflog, who prepared a green energy audit of municipal buildings, solar panels on the roof of Kemptville’s former fire hall could heat the building in winter and the water in the nearby swimming pool in the summer.
There will likely be a hydro rate review for solar energy in the fall regardless of which party forms the government, Weissflog told council, which means it is in the municipality’s best interest to get applications in soon and lock in the current guaranteed rate.
During the public question portion of last Wednesday’s meeting, Weissflog asked for the candidates’ view of climate change.
Taylor replied that his party’s commitment to tackling the “disastrous” effects of climate change is well known. “We need to deal with the consequences of climate change soon and not continue exacerbating this horrible, horrible situation that we’re in,” he said.
“We can’t continue to do what we’re doing,” agreed Lundy, who pushed for better public transit between North Grenville and Ottawa and improved building efficiency.
Heffernan touted the Liberal conservation efforts that have saved 1,700 megawatts – the equivalent of taking 500,000 homes off the grid – while Clark said he was “open to listening” to the solar industry.