Interesting excerpts from a Toronto Sun article from a Fraser Institute report:
…says the Ontario government's electricity plan is now 10 times more costly than installing pollution-control equipment on existing coal plants — an option he argues would have produced similar improvements in air quality.
"Provincial efforts to shield these industries through energy subsidy programs only transfer the costs onto Ontario taxpayers who are already dealing with skyrocketing residential electricity prices.
Because of the fluctuating nature of wind and solar power, adding renewable capacity to the grid requires additional backup power from natural gas plants," the report says.
"Ontario currently has a surplus of base-load generating capacity. Further additions to baseload in the form of wind or solar power may require removing a nuclear plant from operation and replacing it with a combination of renewable and gas-fired generation, yielding a net increase in air emissions."
Building a transmission system that can reach wind projects scattered over a large area is also driving up bills issued to ratepayers, the report says.
Big hydro users, like the mining, manufacturing and forestry industries, will be hard hit by rising rates leading to fewer jobs for Ontarians, the report predicts.
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/04/11/wind-power-kills-jobs-and-increases-electricity-costs-report
Big hydro users, like mining, manufacturing and forestry industries, are granted cheap rates by the Ontario government as a business incentive. So tell me again who takes the hit?
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