Dark ages

A couple of Sundays ago, Ontario paid $1.46 million to Michigan to take excess electricity off our grid. The wind was blowing, temperatures were unseasonably warm and hydro turbines were spinning vigorously, pushed by the snow runoff in the northern reaches of the province. In one hour we spent $214,582 to our American neighbours to take away the electricity we had produced—some of it, namely wind and solar energy, at a massive premium.

On that Sunday—and many other days it turns out—we would have saved money by leaving our lights on. It would have been cheaper for us to plug in the old beer fridge in the basement, crank up the dryer and roast a turkey in the oven. Such has become the zany state of Ontario’s electricity system after nine years under Dalton McGuinty’s management.

Ontario’s extravagant gift to Michigan on Sunday wasn’t a singular event. With the introduction of more intermittent generating sources—wind and solar—such pay-othersto- take-our-power events are happening with greater frequency. In December Ontario spent $52.8 million to subsidize power exports to Quebec and neighbouring U.S. states. It was a record month for exporting electricity— a dubious distinction when you consider we had to pay folks to take it away. Then on the first day of the New Year the province paid $1.5 million, a new record, to our neighbours to take our excess electricity. We had already spent $5 million to produce it.

If Ontario really wanted to protect consumers, it might issue radio bulletins advising us of heavy electricity exporting days—so that we could all turn on our lights to soak up the excess electricity and perhaps save some money. It is small consolation to know that Ontario isn’t alone in coping with electricity g e n e r a t i o n sources it can’t control. European grid operators regularly pay wind energy generators enormous fees to disconnect their turbines from the grid.

This is because balance is key. Electricity cannot be stored in any meaningful grid scale quantity, so the right amount must be produced at the same instant it is needed. Too much and the electricity grid fails. Too little and our economy fails.

This is why intermittent electricity sources— wind and solar—don’t work. Unlike every other form of electricity generation, they cannot be dialed up or down. Wind and solar-powered electricity cannot be called upon when needed; only when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining.

These fundamental flaws in the renewable energy plan have always been known, but ignored for political gain.

Now let’s look at the other end of the demand/ supply curve.

Last summer, Texas was wilting under a record heat wave—the hum of air conditioners resounded from Lubbock to Brownsville. It was the hottest summer on record. According to its grid operator, the state only narrowly avoided imposing rolling blackouts on its consumers. But to do this the grid operator had to snag all the electricity it could from the spot market—in some cases, spending 30 times the normal price.

But Texas has plenty of power—at least on paper. In 2010 it reported 84,400 megawatts (MW) of total generation capacity—well over the 68,294 MW peak endured last summer. In theory this should have been more than enough to supply their needs and avoid relying on the spot market to keep its residents cool. The problem is that 9,500 MW of the state’s generating capacity comes from wind and—as Texans are learning the hard way—the wind doesn’t always blow. In fact the wind tends to blow at night when there isn’t much demand, and not much at all on long hot days when people really could use it.

Ontario and Texas have much in common when it comes to managing their electricity supply. Both jurisdictions have run ahead of the pack blundering into intermittent energy sources—wind and solar— without much forethought or planning. Both have made electricity a political football—promising jobs, wealth and clean energy—in exchange for the hefty taxpayer-funded subsidies required to motivate developers to build these facilities. In both cases the business of electricity has turned out to be much more complicated than either Governor Rick Perry or Premier Dalton McGuinty imagined. The jobs remain largely, and increasingly, offshore; costs are making consumers poorer; and the electricity supply is less clean and green than it was when they began their meddling.

This week McGuinty will tweak the rules of the Green Energy Act—likely a small concession to Ontario residents who are increasingly uncertain of the direction their Premier is leading this province down on the electricity file.

When turning your lights on becomes necessary to save on electricity bills it is harder for McGuinty to hide the fact he has lost control. It would be funny but for the decades of environmental, economic and property degradation rural communities must endure and the soaring electricity bills consumers have to pay.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca