info@truenorthpower.com
A Publication of the FREE Wind Press - May be re-printed for personal use only
Copyright (C) 2007 TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
For commercial or non-profit publication contact TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
Lion's Head ON N0H 1W0 - (519) 793-3290
A Publication of the FREE Wind Press - May be re-printed for personal use only
Copyright (C) 2007 TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
For commercial or non-profit publication contact TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
Lion's Head ON N0H 1W0 - (519) 793-3290
Issue 4:3 Headlines: April 2006
Standard Offer Contracts - Boom or Bust?
The Ontario government announced today it will pay you 42 cents per kilowatt for PV energy and 11 cents for wind energy, on a 20 year contract that's renewable. Great news for Co-op foundations and businesses who install up to 10 MegaWatts of PV solar or wind power. What is still unclear is how an individual . . a privately owned generator . . . will have ANY benefit from Standard Offer Contracts . . . if you go read the press release on the OPA site, today's "News Flash" was only announcing that the Minister has directed the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) to come up with the "Offer" . . so far there are only ideas and suggestions and the OPA now has 6 months to work out some details. . . . .
There have been lots of recommendations from many government agencies, bureaucrats and special interest groups and commercial interests like solar power manufacturers and dealers. The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), the Canadian Solar Energy Association (CanSEA) and others all had an input to the OPA over the past year almost. The OPA then published as summary report of the ISUUES and RECOMMENDATIONS they heard . . . long and detailed but from what I can see still focused on the commercial scale production of power to help "take the strain off" the central power generation shortages in Ontario.
You might ask, "How can we afford to pay people a wholesale price of 42 or even 11 cents per kilowatt when the retail price to consumers is barely 5 or 6 cents?". Well 42 cents/kilowatt is actually an attractive wholesale price when peak load periods cause your government to have to buy power from New York or Quebec at 60-80 cents per kilowatt. . . happens a lot here in Ontario. The total math on how the 42cents is a bargain during non-peak periods is not clear but someone seems to have come to that conclusion. In any case, the McGinty government has made a significant move in the right direction by offering SOCs like that do in Europe. In Germany, this has caused a stampede of development of Solar PV installations that would never have happened without that long term commitment for repayment. . . so much so that it's driven a lot of the Solar PV costs up around the world because of the demand in Europe. But let's look at the average home owner.
If I put $20-30,000 into a renewable energy system for my home with my "after tax money" I'll have maybe 2-3kW of power generation at least some of the time. If it's strictly solar PV then I'll only have that kind of power for 5-6 hours per day when the sun is out. At the very BEST, that's maybe 10-15kWhrs of energy they are now going to pay me $6.00 for that good production day. But the same home uses 40kWhrs/per day, (about 1200/month). . . so it's all going to get used "behind the meter" and I will not be turning my meter backwards or getting paid. If they go by what my MX60 solar controller says I should have been paid the $6 but they don't. They go by the Weight's an Measures Canada, government certified, watt meter on my house. The MX60 is not certified for settling financial accounts. Some sunny days in the summer I'm not at home so I will actually register 10 or 15 kWhrs going out. . .Ok, but if I'm a smart renewable energy generator, I'd rather rely on wind AND solar for more reliable production. There's no sun a midnight but there may be lots of wind anytime day or night. My 2.5kW turbine is connected to the same Grid-Tied inverter that is certified to feed power back to the grid. How will they know where the electrons came from during daylight hours? It may be a windy day in August under peak load hours and there is no way to tell how I helped take the strain off the system because my single 50W solar panel seems to be producing about 2kW of power. So why are they only offering me 11 cents for the same support. . . or just maybe . . . they won't know and they'll pay me 42 cents anyway?
Their SOC appears to only works for commercial, co-op or very long term dedicated systems with low demand during peak hours. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing. But it does almost nothing for the home owner who uses their after tax earned income to purchase a renewable energy system, especially if they are helping take the strain off by NEVER being connected. If you got paid $6 per day for 20 years and included the fact that you still paid 5 cents/kWhr for the stuff you used plus the connect, distribution, tax charges and the Nuclear debt then you might break even. But the sun is not there enough to do that so the payoff is longer. If on the other hand you own a parking garage with a nice big roof you might consider putting $50-$100,000 in solar panels up there and using very energy efficient lighting you could make the numbers work because you only need energy when the sun is gone and the energy is cheap. There are many other co-op wind projects and commercial applications where the numbers do work, so I applaud the government for this, but this still does little to nothing for the typical home owner who put his own money into a small hybrid generation system.
I have not read the Standard Offer Contract because it doesn't exist yet so it's pretty hard to comment. On the other hand, it doesn't exist yet so they may still be willing to do something really significant and include something for private generators who operate for their own consumption, behind the meter and thereby take up the strain with no recognition of their efforts or expenses. Or they could do something better and go beyond these still complicated contracts, structured pricing and special deals from some but not for others. . . . something very simple . . . and very effective. Just stop taxing private owners of renewable energy. If you simply stop taxing private generators of renewable energy, who make clean power for themselves and thereby take the strain off the system then tens of thousands of private systems will be installed. You could even allow them to send any excess production to the grid and they'd never even ask to be paid for it. . . and you could do all this with a simple piece of legislation and one Federal testing program that lasts maybe 3-6 months at Weights and Measures Canada, costing maybe $150,000.
If you want to participate in a bit of grass roots "call for change" then answer the following question and I'll do my best to get it listened to at the Provincial and Federal level. If you email me at david@truenorthpower.com and just say yes or no or give me some feedback. I'll take your ideas to the people who work these problems and I promise not use or release your address for any purpose (including this one) unless you tell me to.
Would you install 1-10kW of qualified renewable energy for your home or private business use, and even provide any excess production back to the grid for FREE . . .IF:
a. You were not charged taxes on the installation. (The PST is already rebated in Ontario)
b. You could deduct the cost of your system from your income taxes.
Here's how it would cost next to nothing except some lost tax revenue that is going to benefit everyone anyway.
The simple connection we all have is a watt meter that is certified by a Federal department for settling accounts. It is only certified accurate in one direction, IN to your house. There is no reason short of "I don't want to" that the same agency cannot certify the existing meters in BOTH directions and save a lot of expensive meter replacement. So what if it's accurate to .5% in one direction and 2% in another. Why change all the meters. That's still far less than the line losses we pay for and when you produce your own power there is virtually NO line loss at all. When I asked them (Federal certification people) why this meters have not been certified in both directions, the answer was, "They have never been asked to". For private generators, operating behind the meter, it only matters what the difference between IN and OUT is, especially when you are not asking to be paid for it. You don't need a SMART meter or a dual register to do that. If you are producing enough excess each billing period that it's worth being paid for it then you've way oversized your system. If on the other hand you over produce and give it to the system and never get paid that's great. You've helped take the strain off and and there is more free energy coming tomorrow for you. Don't get hung up about getting paid for a few kilowatts once in a while . . they came from a free source in the first place.
What's the value to this non-standard NO-TAXES offer. Well, first it's a much more inclusive but simpler approach with no complicated formulas or even simple contracts . . It could be implemented with a stroke of a pen at practically no cost other than the standard meter certification project . . It's a level paying field that includes real home owners and taxpayers not just businesses and co-ops . . . . On Grid or Off-Grid, grid-tied or not, solar, wind, hydro or bio-gas, they all deliver clean energy capacity at no capital cost to the government. There are virtually ZERO transmission losses to consider (current grid system losses often exceed 10%). Every kilowatt produced locally is 3-4 kW of central generation required. That's because every kWhr of energy received at a rural home takes something like 10-12,000 BTUs of heat to generate if you include digging or drilling and transportation to get the fuel to the generator so you can burn it at maybe 70% efficiency. Even the utilites and power companies benefit because the more rural home owners do it the more stable the distributed transmission system becomes the less fuel they need to dig up and burn. . . and . . . rural generators live nearer the ends of the distribution chain where actual line losses may exceed 20%. . . Also, more people and businesses are protected with their own backup power during peak power demands or outages. . . and it would not discriminate where the clean energy came from . . The only reason wind and solar are treated differently is because one costs a lot more than the other and there is a perception that solar is more likely to be available during peak demand when additional capacity is valuable. The SOC is all about taking the strain off the system . . not about helping private citizens get a cleaner environment or cheaper more reliable power. Renewable energy is valuable ALL THE TIME. Rather than contantly look at the big picture and big projects only, let's put some of the focus on the individual taxpayer and start recognizing the environmental value as well as the contribution of real taxpayers. Remember it's the taxpayers who will be paying that 42 cents anyway. . . That's my 2 cents. . . sorry couldn't help that.
The Ontario government announced today it will pay you 42 cents per kilowatt for PV energy and 11 cents for wind energy, on a 20 year contract that's renewable. Great news for Co-op foundations and businesses who install up to 10 MegaWatts of PV solar or wind power. What is still unclear is how an individual . . a privately owned generator . . . will have ANY benefit from Standard Offer Contracts . . . if you go read the press release on the OPA site, today's "News Flash" was only announcing that the Minister has directed the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) to come up with the "Offer" . . so far there are only ideas and suggestions and the OPA now has 6 months to work out some details. . . . .
There have been lots of recommendations from many government agencies, bureaucrats and special interest groups and commercial interests like solar power manufacturers and dealers. The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), the Canadian Solar Energy Association (CanSEA) and others all had an input to the OPA over the past year almost. The OPA then published as summary report of the ISUUES and RECOMMENDATIONS they heard . . . long and detailed but from what I can see still focused on the commercial scale production of power to help "take the strain off" the central power generation shortages in Ontario.
You might ask, "How can we afford to pay people a wholesale price of 42 or even 11 cents per kilowatt when the retail price to consumers is barely 5 or 6 cents?". Well 42 cents/kilowatt is actually an attractive wholesale price when peak load periods cause your government to have to buy power from New York or Quebec at 60-80 cents per kilowatt. . . happens a lot here in Ontario. The total math on how the 42cents is a bargain during non-peak periods is not clear but someone seems to have come to that conclusion. In any case, the McGinty government has made a significant move in the right direction by offering SOCs like that do in Europe. In Germany, this has caused a stampede of development of Solar PV installations that would never have happened without that long term commitment for repayment. . . so much so that it's driven a lot of the Solar PV costs up around the world because of the demand in Europe. But let's look at the average home owner.
If I put $20-30,000 into a renewable energy system for my home with my "after tax money" I'll have maybe 2-3kW of power generation at least some of the time. If it's strictly solar PV then I'll only have that kind of power for 5-6 hours per day when the sun is out. At the very BEST, that's maybe 10-15kWhrs of energy they are now going to pay me $6.00 for that good production day. But the same home uses 40kWhrs/per day, (about 1200/month). . . so it's all going to get used "behind the meter" and I will not be turning my meter backwards or getting paid. If they go by what my MX60 solar controller says I should have been paid the $6 but they don't. They go by the Weight's an Measures Canada, government certified, watt meter on my house. The MX60 is not certified for settling financial accounts. Some sunny days in the summer I'm not at home so I will actually register 10 or 15 kWhrs going out. . .Ok, but if I'm a smart renewable energy generator, I'd rather rely on wind AND solar for more reliable production. There's no sun a midnight but there may be lots of wind anytime day or night. My 2.5kW turbine is connected to the same Grid-Tied inverter that is certified to feed power back to the grid. How will they know where the electrons came from during daylight hours? It may be a windy day in August under peak load hours and there is no way to tell how I helped take the strain off the system because my single 50W solar panel seems to be producing about 2kW of power. So why are they only offering me 11 cents for the same support. . . or just maybe . . . they won't know and they'll pay me 42 cents anyway?
Their SOC appears to only works for commercial, co-op or very long term dedicated systems with low demand during peak hours. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing. But it does almost nothing for the home owner who uses their after tax earned income to purchase a renewable energy system, especially if they are helping take the strain off by NEVER being connected. If you got paid $6 per day for 20 years and included the fact that you still paid 5 cents/kWhr for the stuff you used plus the connect, distribution, tax charges and the Nuclear debt then you might break even. But the sun is not there enough to do that so the payoff is longer. If on the other hand you own a parking garage with a nice big roof you might consider putting $50-$100,000 in solar panels up there and using very energy efficient lighting you could make the numbers work because you only need energy when the sun is gone and the energy is cheap. There are many other co-op wind projects and commercial applications where the numbers do work, so I applaud the government for this, but this still does little to nothing for the typical home owner who put his own money into a small hybrid generation system.
I have not read the Standard Offer Contract because it doesn't exist yet so it's pretty hard to comment. On the other hand, it doesn't exist yet so they may still be willing to do something really significant and include something for private generators who operate for their own consumption, behind the meter and thereby take up the strain with no recognition of their efforts or expenses. Or they could do something better and go beyond these still complicated contracts, structured pricing and special deals from some but not for others. . . . something very simple . . . and very effective. Just stop taxing private owners of renewable energy. If you simply stop taxing private generators of renewable energy, who make clean power for themselves and thereby take the strain off the system then tens of thousands of private systems will be installed. You could even allow them to send any excess production to the grid and they'd never even ask to be paid for it. . . and you could do all this with a simple piece of legislation and one Federal testing program that lasts maybe 3-6 months at Weights and Measures Canada, costing maybe $150,000.
If you want to participate in a bit of grass roots "call for change" then answer the following question and I'll do my best to get it listened to at the Provincial and Federal level. If you email me at david@truenorthpower.com and just say yes or no or give me some feedback. I'll take your ideas to the people who work these problems and I promise not use or release your address for any purpose (including this one) unless you tell me to.
Would you install 1-10kW of qualified renewable energy for your home or private business use, and even provide any excess production back to the grid for FREE . . .IF:
a. You were not charged taxes on the installation. (The PST is already rebated in Ontario)
b. You could deduct the cost of your system from your income taxes.
Here's how it would cost next to nothing except some lost tax revenue that is going to benefit everyone anyway.
The simple connection we all have is a watt meter that is certified by a Federal department for settling accounts. It is only certified accurate in one direction, IN to your house. There is no reason short of "I don't want to" that the same agency cannot certify the existing meters in BOTH directions and save a lot of expensive meter replacement. So what if it's accurate to .5% in one direction and 2% in another. Why change all the meters. That's still far less than the line losses we pay for and when you produce your own power there is virtually NO line loss at all. When I asked them (Federal certification people) why this meters have not been certified in both directions, the answer was, "They have never been asked to". For private generators, operating behind the meter, it only matters what the difference between IN and OUT is, especially when you are not asking to be paid for it. You don't need a SMART meter or a dual register to do that. If you are producing enough excess each billing period that it's worth being paid for it then you've way oversized your system. If on the other hand you over produce and give it to the system and never get paid that's great. You've helped take the strain off and and there is more free energy coming tomorrow for you. Don't get hung up about getting paid for a few kilowatts once in a while . . they came from a free source in the first place.
What's the value to this non-standard NO-TAXES offer. Well, first it's a much more inclusive but simpler approach with no complicated formulas or even simple contracts . . It could be implemented with a stroke of a pen at practically no cost other than the standard meter certification project . . It's a level paying field that includes real home owners and taxpayers not just businesses and co-ops . . . . On Grid or Off-Grid, grid-tied or not, solar, wind, hydro or bio-gas, they all deliver clean energy capacity at no capital cost to the government. There are virtually ZERO transmission losses to consider (current grid system losses often exceed 10%). Every kilowatt produced locally is 3-4 kW of central generation required. That's because every kWhr of energy received at a rural home takes something like 10-12,000 BTUs of heat to generate if you include digging or drilling and transportation to get the fuel to the generator so you can burn it at maybe 70% efficiency. Even the utilites and power companies benefit because the more rural home owners do it the more stable the distributed transmission system becomes the less fuel they need to dig up and burn. . . and . . . rural generators live nearer the ends of the distribution chain where actual line losses may exceed 20%. . . Also, more people and businesses are protected with their own backup power during peak power demands or outages. . . and it would not discriminate where the clean energy came from . . The only reason wind and solar are treated differently is because one costs a lot more than the other and there is a perception that solar is more likely to be available during peak demand when additional capacity is valuable. The SOC is all about taking the strain off the system . . not about helping private citizens get a cleaner environment or cheaper more reliable power. Renewable energy is valuable ALL THE TIME. Rather than contantly look at the big picture and big projects only, let's put some of the focus on the individual taxpayer and start recognizing the environmental value as well as the contribution of real taxpayers. Remember it's the taxpayers who will be paying that 42 cents anyway. . . That's my 2 cents. . . sorry couldn't help that.