Brockville Climate Action Group

The Whig-Standard / Jennifer Pritchett / 26 June 2008

Ontario is looking to Germany for direction on how to meet its provincial climate-change targets.

Environment Minister John Gerretsen told an international wind energy conference in Kingston yesterday that Ontario is getting into renewables "somewhat late in the game," but is committed to learning from countries such as Germany, the world leader in wind energy.

"Quite frankly, with the cheap power we had over many decades, there wasn't a need in this country, in this province, to conserve. There wasn't a need for renewable energy," he told the seventh annual World Wind Energy Conference.

Gerretsen, MPP for Kingston and The Islands, stressed to delegates how committed the province is to switching its electricity production from fossil fuels to more renewable forms of energy.

"We're not quite there yet in Ontario, but we're picking up speed," he said.

He was one of several provincial politicians, including newly appointed Energy and Infrastructure Minister

George Smitherman and Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield, who attended the international wind energy conference at St. Lawrence College this week to see what other countries are doing to promote the use of renewable energy.

Germany sent about 25 delegates to the conference and Ontario politicians were particularly keen to hear what the Germans had to say about wind developments there.

With commitments to phase out its coal-fired electricity plants - which provide roughly a third of Ontario's power - by 2014, the pressure is on for the province to find more environmentally friendly ways to provide electricity.

Ontario has also promised to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions significantly in the next dozen years or so. By 2014, Ontario is targeting a six per cent cut from 1990 levels and a 15 per cent reduction by 2020.

"The science is in and we absolutely have to deal with our greenhouse gas emissions ... our energy must come from clean energy sources as soon as possible," Gerretsen told the conference.

He pointed to the increase in wind power in Ontario over the past four years, from just four turbines in 2004 to 700 in 2008. By 2009, the province expects to have 1,300 wind turbines in operation.

"This is still a small percentage of our total energy mix," said Gerretsen.

Ontario is looking to follow the example of Germany, where there are roughly 19,460 turbines with an installed capacity of 22,247 megawatts. By 2020, the country intends to have about 12,000 offshore turbines operating.

Hermann Albers, president of the German Wind Energy Association, told the conference that the country plans to continue installing an average of 3,500 megawatts of wind power annually in order to meet its target of 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020.

Still, he said the country isn't harnessing all the wind power it could. "We have a lot of wind and we can't consume it all," he said. Albers invited Ontario to collaborate with Germany on the issue of wind power.

"Let us work together. I would be happy to see some Ontario delegates," he said.

Albers said Canada can learn from Germany's experience that a green act or a renewable energy act assists the government in the promotion of environmentally friendly projects.

Gerretsen said he would support a green energy act for Ontario. Though he said Ontario is moving quickly with wind power, Gerretsen maintained there is a need to protect the environment.

"Wind turbines are a good thing for our province, but we have to put them in the right places - not in environmentally sensitive areas," he said.

[ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE ]