Hahaha thanks dumptheM. Its just been a little disheartening to see the liberals steamroll this energy act over a weak opposition that was in the midst of picking a new leader. This act provides the Ontario Energy board with unprecedented power over municipalities and lacks transparency. beyond that its systematically flawed. Its politics, its vote getting, its greenwashing.
I saw on the CBC a show how a farmer wanted to supply power from methane from his animals to the grid and Ontario Hydro just piled one cost atop another such as erecting telephone poles. I think he might have given up.
Here's a golf course building a private wind mill to supply its electricity. Privately run and he even gets a rebate as he supplies energy to the grid. Small scale works for some businesses.
Vernon Morning Star - Golf course turns to wind power
Vernon Morning Star
Golf course turns to wind power
Highlands Golf Course owner Barb Mitchell, with Paul Wende, owner of Energy West Power Solutions, has installed a wind turbine at the Buchanan Road property.
jennifer smith/morning star submitted photo
By Jennifer Smith - Vernon Morning Star
Published: August 15, 2009 12:00 PM
Updated: August 17, 2009 2:48 PM
Changing light bulbs to conserve energy just wasn’t enough.
So Barb Mitchell constructed a nearly 50-foot, 10-kilowatt wind turbine to harvest the wind’s power.
And now, Mitchell has the largest wind turbine in B.C., at Highlands Golf Course in Coldstream.
The short-game course is now one of only 15 customers in B.C. on a net metering account — meaning they are actually pumping energy back into the system.
Doing so allows Mitchell to offset the electricity costs at the course, which include refrigeration and running a pump in the irrigation pond which sends water to all of the valves.
“Our electrical consumption is considerable,” said Mitchell, who has had the turbine running for a month now.
“It’s a lot of electricity, I had to do something.”
And with increased hydro rates now charged under the step system (there is a lower rate for step one and for usage over approximately 1,300 kW hours a higher step-two rate is charged).
Thanks to the turbine, Mitchell is confident the course can avoid the step-two charge.
The wind may be free, but the course has invested considerable dollars (close to $50,000) for the turbine.
Still, Mitchell is confident the long-term payback is worth it.
“It’s the same as putting a more efficient furnace in your house, paving the driveway to keep the dust down or putting a new roof on your house.”
With the wind, Mitchell says the potential is endless.
“I’m hoping others become interested in it because the benefits are long-term. And we all need to do a little more. We’re a society of waste and excess and I think we have to change that.”
Although the turbine has only been up for one month, the idea has been churning for quite some time.
“I’ve been interested in this for about 20 years,” said Mitchell, who has books on wind power and conservation.
But it was some nearby neighbours who really got Mitchell interested.
Jim and Cathy Brown live just down the road from the golf course and last year they installed a wind turbine at their home.
The Brown’s two-kilowatt turbine is smaller than the 10-kilowatt one at the golf course, but approximately the same height.
The diameter of the router on the golf course turbine is also much larger, meaning it can generate approximately four times the amount of power.
“It’s the biggest one I’ve put in,” said Paul Wende, owner of Energy West Power Solutions, who also installed the turbine at the Brown’s home.
