Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the Canadian Council of Energy and Mines Ministers. It also has set non-
binding targets for national GHG emission reductions and through this pro-
gram works with the provinces to coordinate achievement.
In terms of carrots, the predominant incentive ofered by the federal gov-
ernment to spur on wind power development began with the wind power
production initiative (WPPI), launched in 2002. Unfortunately, as detailed
earlier, the incentives which ranged between C$0.008 and C$0.012 per gen-
erated kWh were too inconsequential to generate much activity. he C$1.5
billion ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program which was announced in
2006 as the replacement for the WPPI provided a similarly tame production
incentive of C$0.010 per kWh over a ten-year period for all eligible renewable
energy projects commissioned between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2011.
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Additionally, special tax regulations have been established to permit wind
power developers to accelerate write-ofs of capital equipment.
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Overall, fed-
eral subsidies to date for wind power development can be considered to be
top-ups to anything that is planned at the provincial level.
At the provincial level, RFPs (requests for proposal) have been the domi-
nant tool for encouraging wind power development. his is because the elec-
tricity networks in the majority of Canada's provinces (with the exception
of Alberta, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) are dominated by public
monopolies. RFPs historically meshed well with monopoly control of electric-
ity networks. Simply put, RFPs have been an uncomplicated and fair way of
expanding electricity networks. he only notable exceptions where a diver-
gence from the RFP system has resulted in signiicant wind power develop-
ment are in Alberta and Ontario. In Alberta, the wholesale electricity market
has been liberalized and wind power developers compete with other sources
of energy on an equal commercial basis. As mentioned earlier, thanks to car-
bon taxes applied to fossil fuel electricity plants and the high quality of wind
in Alberta, wind power developers have been able to successfully compete on
this basis. In Ontario in 2009, the Ontario government initiated the feed-in
tarif system described earlier. To date, the tarif has been highly successful in
encouraging wind power difusion but rapid expansion of wind power capac-
ity has also attracted a substantial amount of NIMBY opposition.
8.7 THE CULMINATION OF INFLUENCES
Canada is a moderate nation. he wealth of social programs found in Canada
highlights an ideological perspective that supports eforts to mitigate any
adverse impact associated with policy implementation, including policy afect-
ing the energy sector. Put another way, when energy policy adversely inluences
