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| 1 |
ID:
126538
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
On-site data collection, interviews, and financial models were used to determine the feed-in tariff (FIT) rate required to encourage investment in the generation of electricity from currently unused biomass from the Eastern Ontario forest industry. A financial model was adapted and run to determine the net present value, internal rate of return, and payback period associated with a 15 MW biomass-to-electricity facility. The analysis suggests that Ontario should consider a stronger incentive than the recently-offered CDN$ 0.13 kW-1 h-1 for biomass-to-electricity. If no customer for heat generated from the plant can be found, FIT rates between CDN$ 0.17-0.22 kW-1 h-1 are necessary to achieve a 15% internal rate of return and a simple payback of approximately 5 yr; achieving a price of CDN$ 0.013 kW-1 of thermal output still requires elevated FIT rates between CDN$ 0.15-0.21 kW-1 h-1 to meet economic performance criteria. Other barriers, particularly regulations regarding the use of operating engineers in steam plants, should also be addressed to facilitate development of biomass-to-electricity. Without these changes, it is likely that biomass will be significantly under-used and will not contribute to the renewable energy goals of Ontario.
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| 2 |
ID:
133217
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper examines the debates around the Ontario×s Green Energy and Green Economy Act (GEGEA) as an energy and economic development strategy through comparative public policy and discourse analysis approaches. The evidence regarding the economic impacts of the GEGEA is found to be almost entirely based on the results of economic modeling exercises. Critics and supporters of the legislation have arrived at very different conclusions through such exercises. These outcomes are similar to those seen in other jurisdictions pursuing renewable energy initiatives, such as Feed In Tariffs (FITs), renewables obligations and portfolio standards. A discourse analysis approach is employed to examine the reasons for the different conclusions being reached over the impacts of renewable energy initiatives. Differences in modeling approaches and assumptions are found to reflect differences in ideational perspectives on the part of the modelers with respect to the appropriate roles of markets and the state and the relationship between economic development and environmental sustainability in public policy. The paper concludes with suggestions regarding the gathering and availability of information regarding economic development in the renewable energy sector, and a discussion of potential ways to strengthen future efforts to understand the economic and environmental impact of renewable energy initiatives.
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| 3 |
ID:
177481
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We contribute to research on governance of state-owned electric utilities by examining the implications of oversight by independent versus ‘political’ directors for corporate strategy. While policy think-tanks often recommend that governments appoint independent professional directors to boards of state-owned corporations, governments sometimes select politicians who bring a politically-oriented perspective to their oversight duties. To examine the potential strategic consequences, we draw on a novel survey of 384 directors of municipally-owned local electricity distribution companies in Canada, of which about a third were elected municipal councillors and the remaining were independent business professionals. The survey solicited individual director views about strategic priorities, including mergers and acquisitions, business diversification, and corporate financing options. Our statistical analysis of the survey response data finds that political directors, after controlling for prior executive experience and organizational context, were more risk-tolerant on average than independent directors, as evidenced by a greater willingness to diversify into unregulated business activities and to acquire equity stakes in other utilities; but at the same time, they prioritized enhanced dividend payments to the municipal government over re-investment in the corporation, a potential constraint on future business growth.
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| 4 |
ID:
097252
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2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper explores the results and implications of an illustrative application of a sustainability assessment framework in the design and evaluation of a major integrated power system plan. The paper examines the integrated power system plan developed by the Ontario Power Authority in 2007. The basic framework rests on a generic set of evaluation criteria reflecting basic requirements for progress towards sustainability that was adopted, reinterpreted and applied by the Authority in support of its proposed plan. In response to evident deficiencies in the Authority's work, the authors and colleagues undertook a re-examination using a more fully elaborated sustainability assessment framework, specified for application to power system planning. The results point to a plan and plan components substantially different from those proposed by the Authority. More generally, the results highlight three advantages of applying such a sustainability assessment framework: comprehensive coverage of key requirements for progress towards sustainability while ensuring careful attention to the context and concerns of the sector; emphasis on identifying plan options that avoid major trade-offs among the sustainability criteria and recognition of interactions among the social, ecological, economic and technological realms favouring options that offer multiple, mutually reinforcing and lasting benefits.
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| 5 |
ID:
127297
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article employs the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions to explore the historical evolution of the electricity regime in the province of Ontario from 1885-2013 and to interpret the potential for future movement towards decarbonization. With an emphasis on the political and social dimensions of transitions, this analysis traces the key features influencing change within Ontario's electricity system over the past century. This paper uses multiple criteria (the phase of electrification; role of the electricity system in economic development; structures of ownership, market and regulation; dominant technologies; and the relative stability of arrangements) to characterize distinct regime configurations and periods of instability which separate relatively stable system orientations. Lessons are drawn from the historical case with implications for future decarbonization in the province, including the importance of: (1) residual momentum; (2) embedded guiding principles; and, (3) Politico-Economic Coalitions.
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| 6 |
ID:
125694
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Wind turbines produce sound during their operation; therefore, jurisdictions around the world have developed regulations regarding the placement of electricity generating wind farms with the intent of preventing unacceptable levels of 'community noise' in their vicinity. However, as survey results indicate that the relationship between wind turbine noise and annoyance may differ from noise-annoyance relationships for other common noise sources (e.g., rail, traffic), there are concerns that the application of general noise guidelines for wind turbines may lead to unacceptably high levels of annoyance in communities. In this study, previously published survey results that quantified wind turbine noise and self-reported annoyance were applied to the predicted noise levels (from turbines and transformers) for over 8000 receptors in the vicinity of 13 planned wind power developments in the province of Ontario, Canada. The results of this analysis indicate that the current wind turbine noise restrictions in Ontario will limit community exposure to wind turbine related noise such that levels of annoyance are unlikely to exceed previously established background levels of noise-related annoyance from other common noise sources. This provides valuable context that should be considered by policy-makers when evaluating the potential impacts of wind turbine noise on the community.
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| 7 |
ID:
132663
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This study documents and analyzes the role of health risk perceptions and other associated concerns of wind energy development (henceforth WED) in Ontario. Drawing on the risk society framework, we conduct a longitudinal media content analysis to document and analyze perceptions of and responses to WED over a nine year period. Attention is paid to temporal variations in responses relative to Ontario×s Green Energy Act (2009) (henceforth GEA); legislation aimed at the rapid expansion of renewable energy. The study reveals that the most radical forms of resistance to WED on health grounds are driven by perceived injustices in the treatment of potential at-risk citizens and citizens with health concerns. The GEA is fuelling these perceptions of injustices in subtle and nuanced ways, particularly by acting as a major confounder to health risk concerns. Contrary to several existing studies, we problematize the use of financial incentives to foster the development of wind energy. We also provide policy recommendations which include the need for increased public engagement in the WED process, the importance of using third party health and environmental assessments to inform developments as well as the need for post-development strategies to address ongoing community concerns.
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| 8 |
ID:
089858
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