Conservatives zap more than 200 green energy contracts



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More than 200 projects in southwestern Ontario, including one of Ontario's most controversial wind farms, are among the victims of the mbadive cancellation of contracts with renewable energy producers by the Conservative government

. The Ford government has announced plans to reduce electricity bills by 12 percent, number 758 throughout the province, including proposed wind farms with large turbines and several hydroelectric projects

. Contracts to exploit electricity from other sources, including burning gas from the London landfill, are also disconnected.

Canceled solar contracts extend to southwestern Ontario centers, including at the Woodstock Hospital.

In the greater London area, which is home to the province's largest wind farms and most turbines, and where the reaction against high costs The Chicago-based Invenergy's Strong Breeze Wind Project, Dutton Dunwich, was taxed under the former Liberal government, although wind projects were a great success. the rural community in southwestern London voted against such projects at the first referendum of its kind in Ontario

Invenergy won the contract, in part, with the participation of six Ontario First Nations located more than 1,000 kilometers away

. Dutton Dunwich Mayor Cameron McWilliam said local Aboriginal communities had not been approached.

"We found that local First Nations groups had not been approached and did not agree with the wind farm project. He said:

Invenergy was evaluating the situation and had no comments, spokeswoman Beth Conley wrote in an email.

The Strong Breeze contract – with another in Wallaceburg, Chatham-Kent, for the 12-wind Otter Creek wind farm, whose lenders include the Canadian division of a British energy company, is now disarmed , according to the mbadive list of government contracts, In the Kitchener-Waterloo area of ​​Windsor and up to the Bruce Peninsula, canceled contracts total 218.

They do not include the controversial North Kent project Wind in Chatham-Kent, where activists worried about the effect on their water wells have made headlines, including hastily demanding the shutdown of development.

Energy Minister Greg Rickford was not able to be reached over the weekend, but a London-area minister said the cancellations are a big step on the part of the Minister of Energy. Progressive Conservative government to reduce electricity bills.

"There will be a series of measures that will lead to lower prices," said Infrastructure Minister Monte McNaughton, whose riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlebad accepts many canceled contracts [19659002] "It's a part of this plan to reduce electricity bills by 12 percent.

Under the Liberals, Ontario plunged headlong into wind and solar energy contracts by shutting down its dirty coal-fired power plants, signing lucrative energy contracts with power producers. Giant energy and small size.

Municipalities were also stripped of their ability to control where the projects were built, with dozens joining a "hostile host" movement against them.

Lucrative contracts were reduced as more producers were signed, but critics argue thousands of green jobs

"This will mean job losses, billions of dollars wasted and tangible environmental damage, said NDP MP Peter Tabuns in a written statement

. Minister Jeff Yurek, whose riding is based on the Strong Breeze website, replied that Ontario's fall in green energy has driven up electricity costs and cost tens of thousands High-paying jobs in the province

"The MP for Elgin-Middlebad-London said that Elgin County had lost 6,000 jobs over the last ten years.

McWilliam is also mocked by the idea that scuttling green contracts will cost jobs, "

" I do not buy this argument, "he says

The Conservatives say that cancellations – contracts represent a fraction of Ontario's power, most of which the Canadian Wind Energy Association, an umbrella group of the industry, said that Wind energy is "the least expensive option" for new electricity in Ontario

. "The decision was the right one," said Jane Wilson, president of Wind Concerns Ontario

. The communities did not want them, but they were forced to have these industrial energy projects, and the costs would be even more of a burden to the citizens of Ontario. "

Rising energy costs was a huge problem in Ontario in late 2015, consumers paid $ 37 billion more than the market price of electricity during the most of the decade, partly because of Liberal pressure on green energy.

Canceled contracts total 443 megawatts of electricity

Ontario has a production capacity of about 35,000 megawatts, said an official of the Independent Electricity System Operator.

The Otter Creek Project, the consortium behind the Canadian division of the British energy company RES Ltd, could not be reached for comment. The construction of this project was to start next year.

"The Otter Creek project was not in the interest of the people of Ontario and, of course, not for this community," said Violet Towell, door from the Wallaceburg Citizens Group and Area Wind Concerns.

"That does not mean all the costs that affect our electricity bills and worsen energy poverty, so yes, we are very happy that we are moving in this direction because we have cancellations. not include the most controversial Chatham-Kent project, the North Kent wind turbine project of 34 turbines developed by Korean industrial giant Samsung and US- based Pattern Energy Group.Already in operation, the project gave birth to Water Wells First, a group of citizens who remain concerned that the vibrations caused by the construction and operation of the wind turbines have damaged the private water wells of the region.

OTHER CANCELLATIONS [19659002] Among the contracts being closed are 14 solar energy projects outside the city in which London Hydro is taking part.The general manager Vinay Sharma was absent and unavailable. said a spokesman for London Hydro. Coun. Michael van Holst, who serves on Hydro's board of directors, said he was unaware of the cancellations and that he could not comment

German Solar Corp. intended to build solar farms on CN's old rail corridors. Eleven were offered in Southwold in Elgin County, 10 in Southwest Middlebad and one in Central Elgin. "It's unfortunate in some ways," said Southwold Mayor Grant Jones, about the implications "Every year there was money for the township for various activities."

WHAT OTHERS SAID [19659002] Bonnie Rowe, Opponents of Dutton Dunwich Wind Turbines : "Between the health complaints and the cost to taxpayers and taxpayers, we really felt that C & D Was the right decision the government had to make, "she said. the cancellation of the contract Strong Breeze

MP Rick Nicholls (CP – Chatham-Kent-Leamington) : "I am very pleased that the Otter Creek wind farm was canceled ", he said. the project that Doug Ford had promised to unplug during the election campaign. "We stayed true to our word."

– With files of Shalu Mehta, London Free Press and David Gough, Wallaceburg Courier Press

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St. Thomas Times-Journal, Daily News from Chatham

Energy contracts by the London Free Press on Scribd

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