Great Lakes wind power is Ontario’s clean energy goldmine

OCAA’s report, Great Lakes Wind Power: Now is the Time, demonstrates that Great Lakes wind power has the potential to meet more than 100% of Ontario’s current electricity needs at a cost that is 40% lower than the cost of new nuclear reactors. Offshore wind power projects can also be built in a fraction of the time that it takes to build nuclear reactors, allowing for the kind of immediate action on climate that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has urgently called for.

In February 2011, in response to waterfront residents who were opposed to a potential wind farm 2-4 kilometers from the Scarborough Bluffs, former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty imposed a moratorium on offshore wind projects. It is time for Premier Ford to rescind the McGuinty moratorium and allow Great Lakes wind power projects to proceed – subject to environmental assessment reviews that demonstrate that their potential adverse impacts have been minimized.

As the National Wildlife Federation and the National Audubon Society have noted: “Unless substantial wind power and other renewable energy developments occur in a rapid and timely manner, there will be significant and irreversible impacts to wildlife and biodiversity.”

According to Ontario’s Minister of Energy Todd Smith: “Clean energy has become an economic imperative as companies around the world invest in jurisdictions with affordable, reliable and clean energy.”

The first wind farm in the Great Lakes has been approved for a site 12 to 16 km. offshore of Cleveland in Lake Erie. Ontario cannot stand by and watch our American neighbours tap the high-quality wind resources on our lakes – with the help of generous US renewable energy incentives – if we want to remain competitive with American states.

Please contact Premier Ford today and ask him to permit Great Lakes wind power projects to proceed.

Angela Bischoff, Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance