A second peer-reviewed manuscript relating to the CCSAGE legal case has been published and is available on line. Entitled Ontario’s Green Energy Policy vs. Social Justice, the manuscript was largely based on the documents written to support the CCSAGE legal case. It has the stated objective:
To explore the development and implementation of Ontario’s Green Energy Act and the outcomes on social justice and risk of harm to Ontario residents. To provide examples of government actions taken to achieve its goals, and the occurrence of consequences, whether intended or unintended.
Whiteley, A., &Dumbrille, A. (2021). Ontario’s Green Energy Policy vs. Social Justice. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9, 447-486.https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2021.91033
Received: December 22, 2020 Accepted: January 26, 2021 Published: January 29, 2021
Echauffour wind operated by Voltalia has been ordered to shut down its 5 industrial wind turbines based on findings found in an acoustics report produced by Venatech. The report highlighted persistent non-conformity. The wind project began operations in 2019 and is located in Normandy, France.
Christine Royer, the sub-prefect of Argentanacting as Mortagne-au-Perche made the decision which specified that the restart of the installation will be conditioned only with the realization of the installation meeting its obligation to operate within standards. Such a decision maybe a first in France.
The project has been the subject of complaints from adjacent residents since it began operations.
“To go mad or mad” Annick Bouttier, a resident of Echauffour, testifies to her health problems: “For a little over a year, I have been subject to many health problems like many other Echauffouriens, in particular vertigo (hospitalization in February 2020, because vertigo more and more violent), tinnitus 24 hours a day, even pains in the ears (I no longer know the silence), my nights are summed up to about 3 hours (fatigue and exhaustion are there, impossible to recover), headaches … well, I am very healthy. gone to a glass of health! Since March 2020, confinement requires, and teleworking, the problems have intensified, in June 2020 a videonystagmographic examination (VNG) did not detect anything abnormal, and there we start talking to me about my environment, my place of life to come up with a possible “wind syndrome”, some people are supposedly more sensitive than others. To go mad or mad. And still what am I complaining about, I’m not in Val Soubry! “
Oneida Battery Storage; OES states it has the potential to provide clean and reliable power capacity by drawing and storing renewable energy during off-peak periods and releasing it to the Ontario grid when energy demand is at its peak.
Renewable energy’s Achilles heel is variability and intermittency. Electricity is generated in the wrong place and at the wrong time. The latest push is to use of battery storage to overcome these fundemental flaws. Southern Ontario is part of this global push and Parker Gallant gives his opinion about claims of cost savings.
It appears, those who monetarily benefited from the GEA imposed on Ontario’s ratepayers by the McGuinty led Ontario Liberal Party in 2009 are back seeking more ratepayer dollars.
NRStor and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) have teamed up in an effort to obtain a contract from IESO. The latter, SNGRDC already have a significant portfolio of investments in 13 wind and solar projects including the 230 MW Niagara Regional Wind Farm. NRStor was founded by Annette Verschuren, former CEO of Home Depot and NRStor’s claim to fame is “energy storage” and as such they received several contracts from the OPA (absorbed by IESO) under the GEA. A former senior executive of IESO, Kim Warren is one of the three members of their Board of Directors and he presumably still has some pull within IESO.
It should be obvious that both SNGRDC and NRStor have benefited greatly from the contracts they received from the IESO to the detriment of Ontario’s households and businesses of all sizes and sectors—but they want more!
NRStor appear to be a Tesla agent in Canada and it is probable the project currently in the planning stages will use Tesla’s “Megapack” battery storage for the jointly owned “Oneida Energy Storage Project” (OES) which is a proposed 250MW/1000MWh storage facility.
Driving up Electricity Costs with our Tax Dollars
The OES is not the only “energy storage” project in the early stages as TC Energy, who sold their Ontario gas plants to OPG last year are also in the process of seeking a contract to create a “pumped storage” 1000 MW unit in Meaford, Ontario using water from Georgian Bay. Needless to say, the locals in and around the chosen site are fighting hard to preserve the local landscape and the affected area of Georgian Bay! In TC Energy’s case one should suspect they are trying desperately to obtain “carbon credits” to help offset the upcoming rising costs of both the “carbon tax” and the “clean fuel standard” (another tax) the Justin Trudeau Government has undertaken. Those taxes may make TC uncompetitive with other global energy companies.
The opportunity to make money in the “OES” case is twofold in that they will purchase power when the HOEP (hourly Ontario energy price) is low and sell it back either at a contracted price or when the HOEP is higher during high demand hours. One assumes they also want “carbon credits” they can sell to others for additional revenue.
Insofar as the two partners of the OES are concerned it looks to be simply a means to obtain more ratepayer dollars! In NRStor’s case the benefit will accrue to their new New York owners, Blackstone Energy Partners who purchased them in the spring of 2020 and is itself a subsidiary of Blackstone with $571 billion in assets under management.
Examining the Project Overview suggests in addition to the promise to save us ratepayers $760 million the energy storage project will also result in a “4.1 Million tonne reduction in CO2”. Not sure how buying surplus energy in Ontario that is basically emissions free will save those 4.1 million tonnes but if they say it’s a perfect solution, we should suspect both politicians and public bureaucrats will be swayed by those claims. One wonders if the politicians and bureaucrats recall the words of George Smitherman, former Ontario Minister of Energy when he told us the GEA would only raise electricity rates by 1% and it would create 50,000 jobs! His claims were praised by many ENGO at that time. Ontario’s ratepayers are well aware neither promise came to pass!
It is evident already that politicians and bureaucrats are excited about the OES project. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities had the CIB (Canada Infrastructure Bank) sign an MOU with OES and shouted out: “Renewable energy projects in partnership with Indigenous communities – like the Oneida Energy Storage project with the CIB, Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and NRStor – are a great example of how our economy will growin the future and how forward-looking investments can help Canadians achieve their economic and environmental goals,” One should assume the Minister and the bureaucrats at the CIB did not bother to determine the emissions required to manufacture the batteries nor the cost of recycling them!
It also appears from the “Project Review” that perhaps some politicians and bureaucrats in Ontario have also endorsed the project as Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, Minister of Indigenous Affairs issued the following statement: “Ontario is uniquely positioned to take advantage of energy storage solutions and I congratulate the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, NRStor and the Canadian Infrastructure Bank on this important project milestone today.” To top that off IESO receives many laudatory mentions in the OES review suggesting their plan to secure a contract will be an easy one with the help of Kim Warren’s inside knowledge.
For some reason the review uses 2017 data which is now quite dated. It also notes; “Ontario’s Auditor General has confirmed using forecast data from the IESO that the province is expected to continue to experience on average 2.8 TWh of Surplus Baseload Generation (SBG) per year from 2022-2032”. Bearing the foregoing in mind, one wonders why adding storage of that surplus, storing it for several hours and then selling it back at a price higher than purchased will somehow save us overburdened ratepayers $760 million? Buy low, sell high, appears to represent an additional cost to ratepayers while rewarding OES!
The OES appears to be simply another Trojan Horse* that will serve to further undermine the Ontario economy!
* The Trojan Horse is a story from the Trojan War about the subterfuge the Greeks used to enter the independent city of Troy and win the war.
“A promise made on the campaign trail by Doug Ford in May 2018 to conduct a health hazard investigation on the possible contamination of private water wells in the North Kent Wind farm area is about to be met…..”
On Jan. 12, the Government of Ontario declared a state of emergency to address issues of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Premier Doug Ford stated the government is following the advice of the chief medical officer of health for the province, Dr. David Williams.
In North Stormont, the Nation Rise Wind project, comprising 29 3.44-megawatt Enercon wind turbines, is being constructed and it is anticipated they will become operational soon.
People in our community and beyond believe the Province of Ontario should not be permitting a project such as this, given our understanding of the adverse effects expected to result by operating industrial wind turbines in residential neighbourhoods.
We continue to advocate the project should be terminated and the disastrous wind-energy program of Ontario and the harm it has caused to people should be investigated in a public inquiry format.
I wrote to Williams about this and received his email reply on Nov. 26, 2020. He wrote:
“Studies show some people find the sound level of wind turbines annoying.”
In correspondence to a local physician in October 2019, our local medical officer of health, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, wrote: “wind turbine noise is a “nuisance…”
In Canada, no business should be permitted to disturb the peace and security of our homes and threaten and injure the people in our communities.
A medical officer of health should be trying to prevent these adverse health outcomes; instead ours are ignoring and downplaying the disaster about to hit. This causes a loss of confidence about the advice these public health officers provide to the leadership of the Ontario government
Ford and Minister of Health Christine Elliott need the people of Ontario to buy in to their pandemic program and the restrictions they are attempting to impose.
As long as these politicians continue to overlook the bad advice they get about industrial wind turbines, they are less likely to achieve the support of the people of Ontario
Lawyer Alan Whitely wrote to the Ontario government in July 2020, in an effort to affect modernization of the justice system. The goal was to improve access to justice for the people. The Green Energy Act was used as an example and recommendations were given to prevent this from happening again. He received no response from the Government. Even though the Green Energy Act was repealed in 2019 the consequences and impacts of renewable energy projects continue to divide Ontario.
Whiteley, A.,Dumbrille, A., & Hirsch, J. (2021). Access to Justice: Recommended Reforms to the Ontario Justice System Using the Green Energy Act as an Example. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2021.91001
The Madison County Board of Supervisors in Iowa approved a new county wind ordinance on December 22, 2020. Specifics of the ordinance are provided below. The full ordinance can be downloaded from the document links on this page.
Noise
Noise shall not exceed 40 dBA Lmax (fast) as the desired maximal (day or night) noise limit to protect from adverse effects of audible (closer-originating) noise.
Noise shall not exceed 60 dBC Lmax (fast) as the desired maximal (day or night) noise limit to protect from adverse effects of infrasound, low-frequency noise (ILFN) that contributes to sleep disturbance, among other effects and can travel much farther than audible sound. Wind turbine noise, at any time of the day or night, cannot exceed the above specified limits at any point along a non-participating Property Line (not the nearest residence) to be in compliance. Both limit regulations are essential to more fully protect exposed residents.
Shadow Flicker
A report prepared by a qualified third-party using the most current modeling software available establishing that no Occupied Residence will experience more than thirty (30) hours per year, or more than thirty (30) minutes per day, of Shadow Flicker at the nearest external wall based on a “real world” or “adjusted case” assessment modeling. The report must show the locations and estimated amount of shadow flicker to be experienced at all Occupied Residences as a result of the individual Turbines in the Project.
No amount of Shadow Flicker may fall on or in a Non-Participating Landowner’s property. Shadow Flicker received on a Non-Participating Landowner’s Property requires that the offending turbine(s) be installed with the Optional Shadow Flicker System resulting in Zero Shadow Flicker on a Non-Participating Landowner’s Property. The Optional Shadow Flicker System will stop the C-WECS blades rotating during times when shadow flicker crosses a Non-Participating Landowner’s property.
Height and Number Limitations
The Total Height of any C-WEC, IWT, Turbine in Madison County shall not exceed 500 feet.
No Project shall have more than 51 total Turbines. Projects shall not be split in order to avoid this restriction.
At no time shall the total number of permitted and installed C-WECS in Madison County exceed 51 turbines.
Generating Capacity Limits
A limit of 2.3 MW of generating capacity per unit, C-WECS, IWT.
Setback Distances
Adjacent Property Lines:
– 1.5 mile from a Non-Participating Landowner’s Property Line. – 2100 feet from a Participating Landowner’s Property Line.
Occupied Residence
– 1.5 mile from a Non-Participating Landowner’s Property Line. – 2100 feet from a Participating Landowner’s Occupied Residence Property Line.
Occupied, Non-residential Building: 1.25 mile from Property Line.
Confinement Feeding Operation Building: 1500 feet from property line
Public Road Right-of-Way: 0.5 miles from nearest edge
Open Ditch: 1500 feet from nearest edge
Public Conservation Areas, sites on the National Historical Registry, Covered Bridges: 1.5 miles from Property Line.
Private-Owned Documented Conservation Areas: 1.5 miles from Property Line.
Cemetery: 1 mile from Property Line
City Limits: 1.5 miles from the Corporate Limits
20 12 30 Passed 12 22 2020 Madison County Wind Ordinance Title V Chapter 54 Sec Download file (262 KB) _50
Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc. 