No Props for Bush the 43rd?

As the world watches demonstrations erupt all over the Middle East and the north of Africa, the popular press is suffering amnesia regarding the President they loved to malign as a fundamentalist fool. A quick visit to another source maligned by the intelligensia, Wikipedia, confirms my memories with its explanation of the Bush Doctine as, “including the controversial policy of preventive war, which held that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a potential or perceived threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate; a policy of spreading democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East, as a strategy for combating terrorism; and a willingness to unilaterally pursue U.S. military interests.”

Sanity Advocates Policy Shift

John Spears is out with yet another article in the red Toronto Star, quoting, extensively, the Canadian Wind Energy Association's Robert Hornung.  “Wind advocate warns against policy shifts” again notes CANwea's Hornung claiming the low cost per kWh of wind is a cost effective alternative to other new supply possibilities.  It is per MWh, but in reality it doesn't replace any need for generation capacity.  It is simply a frivolous, expensive, extra that we have no need for.

Wind Swirling In Their Heads

Today, the Ontario government announced another round of winners in Ontario Power Authority’s FIT sweepstakes.  Next week the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has meetings to develop the infrastructure to facilitate paying the FIT sweepstakes winners not to produce any output. 

New Records of Interest Only to CANWEA

At 7 pm on Friday February 18th, 2011, Ontario wind generators hit a new record high, with the IESO reporting 1350MW of wind output.

For the entire day, wind production was 30,492MW (also a new record).

This is enough electricity to power a gazillion homes like mine - because my home just has a ghost power supply at the moment. 

Idiot Wind

I’m a Dylan fan that opposes the Ontario government’s plans for industrial wind turbines (IWT).  “Blowin’ in the wind” is not high on my list of favourite Dylan songs – I consider it his Kumbaya.  I’m weary, my Lord, of the constant references to ‘Blowin’ In The Wind” in stories in the press regarding IWT’s.   You only need two eyes to see the foolishness of that policy.  You only need two ears to hear about it.  I was glad the province quietly killed current plans for off-shore wind installations, at 19 cents/kWh, under cover provided by the news from Egypt on a Friday afternoon.  Unfortunately this news brings out the worst from the group thinkers struggling with math and analytics.   They earn a guttural, angry, response.

Ontario’s Government’s Final Act in Electricity System Planning Farce

Less than one week after saying there wasn’t enough research to proceed with off-shore wind, reinstating the moratorium lifted 2 years ago, and returning to a time when there wasn’t enough research, the government issued a release today stating ”Long-Term Energy Plan Takes Another Step Forward.”    The off-shore wind is now simply planned for on-shore - most probably very near the shores of Erie, Huron, and, Pickle Lake.

The Smartest Guys in the Room - NOT

The National Energy Board’s Electricity Exports and Imports Monthly Statistics for December 2009 is a document that is educational in showing the differences between Canada’s provinces and their electricity policies.

Table 2A contains, for Ontario, 37 “Sources” for exports showing totals of $518,512,069 for 14,779,854MWh, which is $35.08/MWh.  Ontario’s public generator, OPG, appears to be affiliated with slightly under 13% of the transactions.   

A Place To Stand

Prince Edward County’s new council  called for a moratorium on Industrial Wind Turbine installations on Tuesday, February 8, 2011.  Councillor Terry Shortt said, democratically, “The public has had their voice.  It is time for the province to hear us.”  

The resolution included “BE IT RESOLVED THAT the County of the County of Prince Edward requests the Ontario Provincial Government to implement a moratorium on industrial wind turbines until independent health studies have been completed and a full environmental study be done to determine the possible impact, and all related potential costs that will be incurred by the Municipality and the effect on property values in the affected areas…”

Time-Of-Use Pricing

Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing is being implemented in Ontario.  This should provide the personal benefits of Ontario’s spending on smart meters.  More likely, it will result in the same efficiency gains we’ve seen on our bills from the rest of the smart grid initiatives (higher line loss factors added to our usage, and higher delivery charges in general).    Electricity policy encompasses issues of security, social responsibility, economics, politics, and environmental concerns.  TOU billing has implications for all of these things.   I won’t revisit the role of the OEB in protecting, or neglecting, the Ontario consumer – it’s in the smart meter column.  I will show TOU is limited in it's ability to alter Ontario's electricity supply - a supply that is being altered in a way incompatible with the intent of TOU as a demand management tool.

Environmental Attributes For Sale: Desperate Times Call For Desparate Measures

The Financial Post has a short note today on the latest whimsy at the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) - selling Environmental Attributes.

Shortly after the closing of North America's only carbon trading market, The Chicago Climate Exchange, the Financial Post cites a bulletin from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s (BLG) Climate Change Group, who seem perplexed as to why this would happen now - and what the 'this' is?

There shouldn't be a lot of surprise.  It's been almost 2 decades since Maurice Strong's Ontario Hydro tried to account for environment factors through implementation of a Full Cost Accounting process, and a couple of years since the OPA went from a small group of system planners to be 20-30 times larger as it became obsessed with the negawatt while writing contracts that pay private electricity suppliers about $2 billion a year more than the market would (the GA-OPA component of the Global Adjustment).

Hey Kid, can you lend me $50 million for something Smart?

An article begins with "The Canadian Province of Ontario has announced plans to launch a $50 million smart grid initiative aimed at driving investment in research, capital and demonstration projects."
They didn't do that on any Government of Ontario site I can locate.

If by announced you mean whisper it in a foreign jurisdiction through a City of Guelph employee aligned with yet another organization with yet another adorable name (Ontario Clean Technology Alliance) made up of yet another grouping of different local governments - well, maybe they did announce it.

Some things not in the announcement:

Another Wind Record In Ontario. Another Cost?

February 3rd, 2011, hour 20, wind output at 1288MW

A new high for Ontario.

February 3^rd, 2011, hour 24: Where did Bruce Unit 5 go?

It is pure conjecture, on my part, to assume we are paying for the nuclear unit not to produce while it is windy  -- but if that's impetus for people to read Tom Adam's submission to the IESO on the topic of Industrial Wind Turbine installations, and the Congestion Management Settlement Credit (CMSC) proposal for them, it's worth it.

January a Record Month for The Global Adjustment?

This blog has identified the Global Adjustment as a measurement of the market's dysfunction.  Distorting a market price set by transactions between willing buyers and willing sellers (the Hourly Ontario Energy Price), the Global Adjustment is a mechanism to charge Ontario consumers for whatever production, at whatever price, the government has deemed desirable to contract.