Toronto – - Opportunities in Wind Power, study says

Toronto – An electrical consulting firm has recently released a study examining opportunities for large-scale wind power development in Ontario.

The study, released by Navigant Consulting, Inc. evaluated the recently elected LiberalÂ’s electricity policy platform, and the Eves governmentÂ’s proposal for a Green Power Standard, as well as other provincial and federal programs and incentives.

Navigant Consulting is a specialized independent consulting firm providing litigation, financial, restructuring, strategic and operational consulting services to government agencies, legal counsel and large companies facing the challenges of uncertainty, risk and distress. The Company focuses on industries undergoing substantial regulatory or structural change and on the issues driving these transformations.

The Liberal electricity policy platform calls for the establishment of a provincial Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) with prompt targets and timetables for implementation. The Eves governmentÂ’s Green Power Standard, which was first announced in July, provides roughly equivalent renewable targets.

The Ontario RPS is expected to support more than 300 MW of wind power capacity additions per year beginning as soon as 2005. Under this proposal, by 2010 wind power projects could provide over 2,000 MW of electric generating capacity in Ontario, representing approximately 7 percent of the ProvinceÂ’s generating capacity.

“This proposal will likely make Ontario one of the most attractive markets for wind project developers in North America,” stated John Dalton, a Managing Director at Navigant Consulting.

Dalton said if the RPS initiative is properly designed, it can effectively guarantee a market for project developers thus providing the assurances needed to invest in the development of new renewable projects.

A guaranteed larger market, Dalton added, also offers significant broad-based economic development benefits if wind turbine manufacturers elect to site manufacturing facilities in Ontario to invest in renewable projects and other markets in North America.

Dalton pointed out that integrating the large amounts of projected wind generation into the Ontario electricity transmission system and into the broader Ontario wholesale electricity market within the proposed time frame represents a significant challenge. ”The success of this policy will depend on the design and administration of the RPS and the efforts devoted to ensuring that the significant amount of generating capacity that it will promote can be effectively integrated into the Ontario wholesale market,” Dalton said. “Many of the areas with attractive wind regimes don’t have the transmission infrastructure to support large-scale wind power development. Furthermore, a review of the assessments prepared by the Ontario Independent Electricity Market Operator of wind project developers’ transmission interconnection proposals shows that if all proposed projects were to go ahead, developers are already facing transmission constraints.” Other generating technologies such as small hydroelectric projects and biomass projects are expected to provide an additional 700 MW of renewable electric generating capacity under this policy. Given the anticipated output levels of these wind projects, this amount of wind generating capacity could satisfy almost 5 percent of Ontario consumer’s electricity requirements in 2010.