Wind Blog

Japan is appealing Ontario’s Green Energy Act procurement policies to the World Trade Organization, on the basis that the Ontario content requirement violate international trade agreements. Japan actually takes Canada to the WTO – it will be interesting to see the interaction between the Federal and Ontario governments on this one. After all, the Federal government doesn’t have jurisdiction over electricity procurement. Japan is a major supplier of solar panels, with major brands such as Sanyo, Kyocera, and Sharp playing a major role in world markets.
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Yesterday most likely had record wind production in Ontario. It was an unusual situation – there was wind across the province, from Sault Ste Marie, to Kingsville, to Wolfe Island. And when that happens, the coal plants are virtually turned off. (more…)

The head of Toronto Hydro, Anthony Haines, was recently quoted in the Star as saying, “If you connect about 10 per cent of the homes on any given street with an electric car, the electricity system fails.” Clearly this would be a concern. But I can’t make this statement jibe with the numbers. We deserve to see where he came up with this. He said that recharging an electric car uses triple the amount of power used by a typical home. Is this true?
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