Surplus wind power costs verified:  Fedeli

By Guest Column Clint Thomas —— Bio and Archives February 27, 2013

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QUEEN’S PARK – Recent filings to the Ontario Energy Board confirm surplus wind power is costing Ontarians a small fortune, Nipissing MPP and PC Energy Critic Vic Fedeli said today.

The province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) says unless market rules change, surplus wind power will cost electricity ratepayers up to $200 million a year. (Toronto Star, Feb. 27, 2013) “We have lost literally billions selling our surplus power to Quebec and the United States -- some estimates peg the number at over $500 million last year alone,” Fedeli said. “The filings from the IESO only provide further proof that we need to cancel the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program which provides rich subsidies to wind producers, and that we need a moratorium on any further wind power development in Ontario.” Fedeli notes wind power is made mostly at night, at periods of low demand. That excess power can’t be stored, and is then given away to our neighbours. “This provides our neighbours with cheap power which they use to compete even harder against us for jobs and investment,” Fedeli said. In his 2011 report, the Auditor General said Ontario lost $1.8 billion over six years in selling our surplus power outside of Ontario.