Toronto: Concerned with the growing challenges of integrating renewables into the Ontario grid, the organization representing professional engineers in Ontario has prepared a set of recommendations. In fact, they have taken their recommendations directly to the Minister of Energy.
The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) sent its report, titled “Wind and the Electrical Grid: Mitigating the Rise in Electricity Rates and Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” to the Hon. Chris Bentley, Minister of Energy on March 7, 2012.
The report contains 19 recommendations aimed at mitigating the expected increases in electricity rates and greenhouse gas emissions. OSPE is concerned that the present electrical grid design and market rules are not well equipped to accommodate the rapid and large increase in intermittent renewable generation. Intermittent renewable sources of energy have not been effectively integrated with existing grid facilities, the organization says. OSPE believes that they will place significant additional cost pressures on electricity rates and will negatively impact Ontario’s competitiveness.
CanWEA has raised concerns with the OSPE report, including the absence of life cycle analysis and the fact that some of its recommendations are already under consideration or being implemented by the IESO.