Millions Spent On Renewables Without Targets

The Canadian government has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to renewable energy, based on official forecasts which shows that renewables will drop during the next two decades.

In June, the federal energy department released a trilateral report with the governments of the United States and Mexico, showing that generation from non-hydro renewables in Canada would drop from 6 TWh to 2 TWh by 2010, says the Canadian Association for Renewable Energies. The group asked for clarification of the forecast, and for a comprehensive analysis of the capacity and potential of wind, PV, hydro, tidal, ocean, geothermal, earth energy, solar thermal and biomass energy in Canada, including 10-year and 25-year projections.

Data obtain under Access to Information legislation confirmed that the federal government had based its forecast on reports which indicate that wind-generated output in Canada would drop after 2010, while biomass would drop after 2010. The government recently launched a CDN$260 million production incentive for wind power, although an official report provided to the International Energy Agency says Canada has no national target for wind energy nor for renewable energies, nor any national wind energy deployment targets.

"The paper-trail provided by NRCan (and confirmed under ATIP legislation) indicates inconsistencies, contradictions and deficiencies in policies to support renewable energies in Canada," says the association. "If the federal and provincial governments are increasing their support for renewables despite official predictions of significant negative growth, Canadians could anticipate that support would be stronger, more coherent and more strategic if these official predictions indicated positive growth."

The energy department did form an internal working group to collect renewable energy data, but the figures remain confidential and do not forecast the consumption of renewables beyond 2002. The association has urged the government to develop the framework necessary to promote renewables in Canada and to establish set targets or strategies as most other countries have set.

"There is a risk that, in the absence of data which predict positive growth, government's commitment to renewables could be undermined by reliance on internal predictions that renewables will diminish," it warns.

"Also, support may be withheld from feasible green technologies under a scenario of negative data and no strategy."

The association said it is "most concerned that the application (or perceived application) of ad hoc or unsubstantiated policy measures may endanger public support for renewable energy technologies in Canada ... at a time when public support is critical."

CARE stressed that the collection and dissemination of data on renewables becomes important in the debate over Canada's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and "the GHG reduction targets to which renewables can make a significant contribution."