Wind generators can expect more questions to be asked about how they are benefitting the rest of the power system. Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, speaking to the Canadian Wind Energy Association meeting in Toronto on October 5, encouraged wind power developers to find innovative ways to improve the value of what they offer to the system: “[T]he next challenge must be to increase the system benefit of renewable energy projects, like wind.”
Minister Chiarelli suggested that the industry is in a good position to apply new technology and find creative solutions which could improve system operations for the benefit of all parties. He asked, “can industry find a way to ease this tension with technology to increase reliability of supply from variable generation sources?” Then he offered an initial answer to his own question, observing, “This might be possible through partnerships with storage technology or other breakthrough adaptations. And this innovation would be an important step toward more competitive and dynamic capacity procurement structures.”
Underlining the message, the Minister posed the idea that incorporating system benefits into project design might be driven more strongly by economics. “In the future, instead of dedicated wind or solar or renewables procurements, IESO may simply be tasked with procuring zero-emission generation and have specific capacity requirements that need to be met.”
Minister Chiarelli reiterated that the Ontario government is committed to a consultative process and that he expects to entertain discussions of this nature during planning for future renewable energy procurements.