Alternatives

Alternatives to industrial wind power include

Conservation

• Incentives to use less electricity “Ontario has blown an opportunity to invest heavily in conservation — the cheapest and most environmentally-friendly option”  Sun

Efficiency

• Incentives to use electricity more efficiently
• Promote energy efficiency instead of building power projects: Enviro watchdog  OWR

Solar, biogas, biomass, wood waste etc.

• The best thing about solar is that it produces power during the day, when we need it

Natural Gas

• Coal is being displaced by natural gas in Ontario. Click here for more.
• “gas generation to back up wind” WCO
• “forcing the system to keep other generators – usually gas-fired plants – on standby” Star

Hydro-Electric Power

• The cheapest & cleanest electricity that we have
• “by IESO having to instruct OPG to spill hydro production” WCO
• Ontario has been wasting energy by spilling water around the turbines as Niagara Falls because expensive 20-year wind contracts ensure preferred access to the grid. This is bad policy, especially when one considers that Ontario has had a surplus of electricity for years:

Imports and Exports

Ontario is capable of importing or exporting approximately 4,800 MW at any one time, depending on system conditions. Ontario’s high-voltage transmission grid is connected to Manitoba, Quebec, New York, Michigan and Minnesota. IESO

Year	Imports (TWh)	Exports (TWh)	Net Imports (TWh)
2011	3.9	12.9	-9.0
2010	6.4	15.2	-8.8
2009	4.8	15.1	-10.3
2008	11.3	22.2	-10.9
2007	7.2	12.3	-5.1
2006	6.2	11.4	-5.2
2005	11.0	10.2	0.8
2004	9.8	9.5	0.3
2003	10.4	6.3	4.1
2002	7.1	3.9	3.2
2001	4.3	4.1	0.2
2000	5.1	5.5	-0.4
1999	6	4	2
1998	6	3	3
1997	3.8	6.4	-2.6