New regulations could hinder off-shore wind energy development in Lake Ontario

Ontario Proposes New Rules for Off-shore Wind Turbines

Under the proposed new regulations for off-shore wind turbine setbacks of 5 kilometres from shore, Toronto Hydro's current proposed project to build a 200MW off-shore wind facility in Lake Ontario will likely be terminated. The water depth that far from Lake Ontario's shore is too deep to be practicable for turbine installation.

If you support off-shore wind energy development in Ontario, we urge you take a moment of your time to voice your opposition to the proposed new 5 kilometre shoreline exclusion rule by submitting an online letter to the Premier.

A letter template is available below for your convenience.

You may submit your online comments to the Government of Ontario by going to their website:

http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?notice...

Online public comments will be accepted until August 24, 2010.

To read the Ministry of the Environment's Discussion Paper on the topic, visit the site at http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2010/011-0089.pdf

For the backgrounder on the topic, go to: http://news.ontario.ca/ene/en/2010/06/backgrounder-ontario-proposes-rule...

If you would like to read a discussion regarding the proposed new shoreline exclusion rule for off-shore turbines, please visit our blog at http://windshare.wordpress.com/ or follow us on twitter @windshare. We'd love to hear from you.

[Your name and address]

[Date]

Premier Dalton McGuinty
Rm 281, Legislative Building
Queens Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A1

Dear Premier,

Re: EBR Number: 011-0089
Renewable Energy Approval Requirements for Off-shore Wind Facilities
An Overview of the Proposed Approach

My Toronto includes more community based renewable energy, including off-shore wind. Your Minister of Energy and Infrastructure is proposing to create a blanket ban on all wind developments within 5 kilometres of shore. This would effectively kill any off-shore development close to Toronto as the lake depth that far from shore makes wind development impractical.

Your leadership in bringing the Green Energy Act through to completion has been truly visionary, for Ontario, Canada and the rest of North America. The fact that other jurisdictions are now trying to emulate this accomplishment is testament to that fact.

We need to ensure that all wind developments meet stringent environmental guidelines. However, there is little rationale in the proposal to justify such an arbitrary ban. The current Renewable Energy Approvals (REA) process was set up to identify and mitigate environmental concerns regarding wind power developments. Let the REA do the job it was meant to do.

As you know, Premier, there is overwhelming public support for more renewable energy in Ontario – including off-shore wind power projects. This proposed ban makes no sense at all.

Denmark has long been a leader in renewable energy. One of Denmark’s early off-shore projects is a project situated less than 4 kilometres off-shore of its largest city, Copenhagen. Imagine a Toronto waterfront that rivals the forward thinking that made Copenhagen and Denmark leaders in the field of community-owned wind energy projects.

I urge you, Premier, to require off-shore wind projects to meet requirements set out in the Renewable Energy Approvals (REA) process that include environmental constraints. I also urge you to remove a 5 kilometre ‘blanket ban’ as it makes no environmental or economic sense.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]

Cc: Barry Duffey, Ministry of the Environment barry.duffey@ontario.ca
Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner gord.miller@eco.on.ca