POWER March 2011 - 40

POWER IN CANADA
term, I am very optimistic. It took Canada
15 years to build its first 1,000 MW
of wind power. RES has now got plans to
build 1,200 MW in Québec and Ontario in
the next three- or four-year period. "
Another generation opportunity for
Canada that is yet to see construction is
offshore wind. The country has potential
capacity on both its extensive coast lines
and within the Great Lakes. Offshore wind
obviously comes with increased cost pressures
and the need for large transmission
investments. " There is a strong, consistent
wind resource with a low diurnal fluctuation, "
points out John Kourtoff, CEO,
Trillium Power Wind Corp. " There are 95
million people that live around the Great
Lakes. Relative to other international hubs
of offshore wind development, the distance
to get the power into the grid for usage is
very short, and there is good interconnection
between these jurisdictions. "
He sees this as a potential coup for Ontario's
power exports: " The transmission
that is required for offshore will significantly
lower the hurdle of connecting the
U.S. and Ontario grids. This means that,
through offshore wind, Ontario has the opportunity
to position itself to be a provider
of clean power from the East Coast to the
Midwest of the U.S. "
Solar. Photovoltaic (PV) solar power
is another newer generation source that is
being encouraged in the hope of creating
3. Winter sun. Canada's first 250-kW rooftop solar installation, in Cambridge, Ontario. Courtesy:
AECOM
vibrant domestic supply chains (Figure 3).
According to the Canadian Solar Industry
Association (CanSIA), the solar industry
consists of more than 400 companies, employs
more than 1,000 people in Canada,
and grew at an annual rate of 25% between
1992 and 2006. It ranges from the residential
to the utility scale, and solar players
are pursuing opportunities across that
spectrum. The world's largest solar park
(97 MW) opened in Sarnia, Ontario, in
October 2010.
The cost of PV-generated solar energy
has plummeted over the past three years.
The price of inputs (panels, invertors, and
balance of plant) is going down, and installation
know-how, as well as the efficiency
of panels and new technologies, is improving.
" If we continue this rate, we're going
to be competitive with peak grid energy in
parts of North America within the next two
to four years, " believes Jon Kieron, director,
solar, for EDF EN Canada Inc. and
chair of CanSIA. " That would have been
unheard of four years ago. "
" I never dreamed that solar technology
would ever be at the cost it is today, " agrees
Milfred Hammerbacher, president of Canadian
Solar, one of the largest solar panel
manufacturers in the world, which is opening
a manufacturing operation in Ontario.
He cites the government's involvement
as the key driver: " The government has
shown willingness to make it an attractive
market for manufacturing by lowering our
corporate tax rates, which are scheduled
to go down over the next several years.
The truth of the matter is that it is very
hard to compete with China for manufacturing.
Without an incentive, we probably
wouldn't have been able to complete our
projects here. As long as there's a market
driver, it's an easy decision to make. "
Financing Generation Investments
In the aftermath of the global financial
crisis, attracting finance to projects has
become an even greater concern for developers.
Power investment in Canada stems
from a number of sources, both traditional
and less conventional.
Although Canadian banks weathered
the crisis fairly well, James Harbel, a
partner at Canadian law firm Stikeman Elliott
LLP, believes that the banks have yet
to fully engage in the renewable sector:
" They are learning about the technology,
training their people, and educating their
credit committees in a time frame where
there is an unprecedented demand from
them for financing. International players,
particularly European financiers, are more
comfortable with the technology but lack
40
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