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hot Sunday, windy Sunday

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I noted Sunday morning curtailment of potential generation was around record levels - a claim repeated Sunday afternoon at a rally against a facility in Prince Edward County . My friend Parker Gallant subsequently wrote on the wasted wind that day . I thought a post comparing the past Sunday to other days might be instructive. I developed a single page daily report some time ago - something Parker felt useful. The report for Sunday October 15th  estimates the cost to a Class B consumer of consuming one megawatt-hour of electricity at $145/MWh. $145/MWh was up steeply from the $108/MWh I estimated as the average cost for Class B consumers  on the previous day . That $37 difference is greater than the difference estimated for exporters: on Saturday their price averaged $27/MWh; on Sunday it was free. The difference in cost for exporters is due to the change in the Hourly Ontario Energy Price, which dropped from $135/MWh in hour 9 on Saturday, when wind was forecast to produce 149 megawat...

Turbine Approval Revoked

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Bayshore broadcasting reports : Approval for wind turbines in Clearview Township has been revoked. The Environmental Review Tribunal released its decision today (Wednesday) to revoke the previous Renewable Energy Approval. Although the article notes the proponent has 15 days to appeal, I've switched the status to "Cancelled" on my map of industrial turbines in Ontario. The Environmental Review Tribunal's action might prove contagious. It's unclear why the IESO is not exercising contract clause's to revoke other feed-in tariff (FIT) contracts. I reviewed FIT 1 contracts and found this: Article 9 TERMINATION AND DEFAULT... 9.1 Events of Default by the Supplier (j) The Commercial Operation Date has not occurred on or before the date which is 18 months after the Milestone Date for Commercial Operation, or otherwise as may be set out in Exhibit A. So I checked my import of data from an IESO contract data listing (should match this ). Aside from the Fairview site j...

The Class A cost transfer

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Parker Gallant has a new post covering the Industrial Conservation Initiative (ICI), or Class A Global Adjustment mechanism:  Ontario’s class distinction stings ordinary hydro customers.  In early 2010, then Minister of Energy Brad Duguid issued a directive to the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) instructing them to create and deliver an “industrial energy efficiency program” specifically for large transmission connected (TX) ratepayers. That directive led to the creation of the two classes of ratepayers that now exist in Ontario. It's an appropriate time to revisit the topic because this past week Ontario's Minister of Energy was touting the electricity cost-saving opportunities for businesses that qualify for participation in a newly expanded ICI, because those savings come from shifting costs to other consumers. If you are unfamiliar with the topic the latest article may inspire you to learn more, I recommend some articles for doing so at the end of this short post. One statem...

I'm no longer advocating for clean energy; here's why.

"Realism never makes for a good copy, as long as there are people who make a living from selling a dream instead" Perhaps those that remain in the quagmire will speak of this one who got out. Maybe not.

another bad Ontario Energy Report

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There's an Ontario Energy Report (OER) that drips out quarterly. It's often got a mistake on the first page. Half of that page is static graphics. The other half is some simple data presented in big fonts. The report could be useful as it contains data that is difficult to find elsewhere. The intent when it started, as I understood it, was to bring data from multiple sources together in a coherent fashion.  I suspect it was supposed to be definitive - to avoid people getting information from rogue sources such as Parker Gallant and I. The official data would be a good thing if it were credible - but the first page often reveals it is not. This quarter the very first data set - the "Transmission Grid-Connected Generation Output (Q1)" -  has errors. Ontario's use of gas in generation electricity during the first quarter was very low. It was lower than it's been in over 50 years. But it wasn't this low.

8 ignominious Ontario electricity records

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Some numbers I've compiled for the most recent periods of Ontario electricity consumption. IESO weekly reports run from Wednesday to Tuesday - presumably because the market opened on Wednesday May 1st, 2002. 1  The week beginning on the 20th Wednesday of 2017, May 17-23, 2017, is the first one where the average Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP), weighted to the system operator's "Ontario Demand", was negative. On average, it cost money to give away electricity

Industrial wind turbines limited worth in lowering emissions

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On my twitter feed this morning: "I'd like to hear from @ ScottLuft on this. "This" involved something about the value of wind, and what could be done to contain it.   I've written a lot on this in the past, and won't do so again here except to explain the graph that accompanies this post - which explains what can be done to increase the value of the 20-year contracts Ontario's thug Premier claims will have ongoing value. It also explains why wind won't, in the near future, be part of a near-zero emission electricity system anywhere not blessed with large hydro reservoirs. The graphic shows: