Prince Edward Island Commits to Wind Power
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 12.26.05
Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), with about 140,000 in population, is the smallest Canadian province. But there's nothing small about its foresight: It just passed the Renewable Energy Act, a law that guarantees a price of 7.75 cents a kilowatt-hour for electricity from wind energy, and net metering (you can sell back to the grid) for renewable energy in general. What this will do is make investments in wind a lot more attractive on the island, both for large and small scale developments. As of now, the minimum price guarantee will only apply for the first 15% of renewable energy in the province, but the bill contained a section that did not make it into law (yet) and that would have commitment P.E.I. to obtain 100 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015 (the P.E.I. government press release says that it will "be proclaimed at a later date", CBC is a bit more ambiguous). We suppose that if the first 15% go well, the rest will follow naturally.
“Islanders have told us they want Government to pursue cleaner sources of energy that can be produced right here in Prince Edward Island, reducing our reliance on imported energy and giving PEI some control over our own energy future,” said Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Jamie Ballem. “This is another significant step forward in reaching that goal. Prince Edward Island now has all the ground rules in place to allow us to encourage both large- and small-scale renewable energy developments.”Minister Ballem said the section of the Renewable Energy Act requiring utilities to have the capability to obtain the equivalent of 100 per cent of electrical energy from renewable energy sources by 2015 will be proclaimed at a later date.
“Government remains committed to that target. We want to have at least 200 megawatts of renewable energy and we are well on our way to reaching that goal. However, there has been some concern that the current wording in the act does not accurately reflect that intent. So before proclaiming that section of the act, we simply want more time to consider whether the wording needs to be amended.”
::RENEWABLE ENERGY ACT PROCLAIMED AND REGULATIONS PASSED, ::Island first to set price for wind, via ::WorldChanging, ::P.E.I. looks to wind power, ::Designated Areas for Wind Development Map, ::Prince Edward Island at Wikipedia
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Has anyone confirmed that the value of the generated power will be worth more than the cost to create it?