The Ontario government directed the province’s power authority today to negotiate an agreement to purchase biomass power from Ontario Power Generation, a move that marks the beginning of a three-year coal-to-biomass conversion project at the Atikokan power station about 200 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. “Once converted, the plant is expected to generate 150 million kilowatt-hours of renewable power, enough to power 15,000 homes each year,” according to a government press release. “The annual fuel requirements for the plant, made up of dried wood pellets, are estimated to amount to less than one per cent of the total allowable forest harvest in Ontario each year.”

The Atikokan station was built 25 years ago and has a capacity of 230 megawatts. The plant has produced annually as much as 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. If it’s expected to generate 150 million kilowatt-hours when burning biomass — or one-tenth of peak annual output — it means the plant will be used primarily as a peaker and for other backup purposes.

I know there are concerns within the environmental community, also expressed by Ontario’s environmental commissioner, about the wisdom of using biomass for power generation. The fear is that the biomass that makes up the fuel wood pellets won’t be harvested sustainably, and there is also skepticism related to the “carbon neutrality” of biomass when used as a fuel. Also, particulate emissions are still a concern with burning biomass, so while it may serve a climate change strategy it won’t necessarily address local pollution problems. Obviously, these concerns need to be addressed so that all stakeholders are satisfied, but given the choice, I still believe that biomass is a better option than coal, particularly when it’s only used sparingly and for backup.

What do you think?

Ontario’s solar market is boomin’ baby.

California-based market research firm iSuppli came out with a report today that forecasts rapid growth of solar PV installations in Ontario, though warns of a bottleneck in production during the first half of 2011 as developers struggle to meet stricter local content requirements. In 2009 Ontari0 had 69 MW of installed PV, but iSuppli said that will grow by 272.5 per cent to 257 MW in 2010. Stricter rules requiring 60 per cent local content will kick in next year, however, and that will create a supply crunch that slows down growth until the last quarter of 2011 when local manufacturing catches up with demand. As a result, we’ll see growth of 75.5 per cent in 2011 as installations climb to 451 MW. In 2012 we’ll see that number climb past 600 MW.

Mike Sheppard, a PV analyst with iSuppli and author of the report, says companies that have set up local manufacturing in Ontario will benefit the most during the 2011 crunch. According to an iSuppli press brief, “Firms like Canadian Solar, SMA, Fronius and Silfab are stepping in to meet the demand for local solar components, building module and inverter manufacturing facilities in Ontario.”

Sheppard acknowledged that Ontario’s decision to shut down all coal plants by 2014 and its introduction of a Green Energy Act and feed-in-tariff program are driving the explosive growth in PV. He called Ontario’s FIT program “North America’s first comprehensive guaranteed pricing structure for electricity production from renewable fuels sources including solar PV, bio-energy waterpower and wind.” The program, according to iSuppli, “could have a major influence throughout North America.”

This is a positive evaluation, but I don’t think it’s as positive as it could be. As I outlined earlier, module manufacturers alone are setting up local production facilities with a combined annual capacity of more than 1,000 MW. Not all will be built, but iSuppli seems to think that actual installations will be limited to between 150 and 200 MW a year. If that ends up the case, we could end up having some major oversupply issues in Ontario by the end of 2011. But given the huge volume of FIT applications being received by the Ontario Power Authority and amounting to potentially several thousand megawatts, I’m wondering if iSuppli is low-balling its forecast.

ZENN’s third-quarter earnings aren’t looking good, and neither it seems is its relationship with EEStor. I can only speculate, of course, because the company is saying squat, but the language of the press release gives us a few hints:

The company is “developing high-voltage drivetrain solutions that can best take advantage of the unique capabilities represented by anticipated high-voltage energy sources such as EEStor Inc.’s technolog.” In the past, it was all EEStor and nothing but the EEStor. Something has changed, or ZENN is merely trying to prepare itself for possible failure in Cedar Park. It is also pursuing patents for complementary technologies “applicable to both EEStor and non-EEStor energy storage systems.” Here the company is emphasizing alternatives, as well as other technologies beyond storage that it may be able to transition its business around. Personally, it sounds a stretch.

Other comments: “The Company is also actively engaged in opportunities to establish relationships with, or invest in, third-party companies that can provide complementary technologies that will enhance the Company’s overall solutions offering.” If EEStor is for real and does deliver, it won’t need complementary technologies, right?

Final comments from CEO Ian Clifford are also a bit wishy-washy.

“We continue to move forward with investments in engineering and business development initiatives that we believe will deliver the greatest long-term shareholder value,” stated Clifford, who is basically saying Don’t worry, if EEStor falls through we’ll have other pokers in the fire.

What he doesn’t say is where EEStor is at, and what shareholders can expect from that relationship. Given that the investment in EEStor is all there is to ZENN, you’d think it would be incumbent upon Clifford to say much more.

Last week I spent a few days in Halifax, Nova Scotia as a guest of Nova Scotia Power, which covered the cost of my trip. There I spoke with several N.S. Power executives, N.S. Premier Darrell Dexter, and toured a number of electricity generation sites — gas, tidal, wind. I had heard the province was getting serious about renewables and energy conservation, but I was pleasantly surprised at how serious. My Clean Break column today is about the transition Nova Scotia is making to renewable energy. It’s only the jurisdiction in North America with a hard cap on carbon emissions and by law it has to have 25 per cent of its electricity system supplied by renewables. By 2020, its goal is to up that to 40 per cent through aggressive conservation efforts, development of at least one import-export transmission link (to New Brunswick or Labrador) and an embrace of tidal power. Considering this is a province that gets more than three-quarters of its electricity from fossil fuels — mostly coal — this is a big leap.

Nova Scotia is out to prove that tidal power can be competitive with other sources. It has the only tidal power facility in North America and one of just three in the world — the Annapolis Tidal Power Plant, which I visited and found fascinating. It’s an old barrage-style facility constructed in the early 1980 and only capable of generating about 20 megawatts. Newer technologies planned for the Bay of Fundy, however, include turbines developed by Ireland-based OpenHydro, which is testing one of its machines near the Annapolis site. N.S. Power sees it quite realist to develop about 300 MW of tidal power in Nova Scotia between now and 2020, or roughly 10 per cent of the province’s capacity. Not bad. Some studies suggest there’s as much as 2,000 MW of development potential there.

In a country where the federal government considers green energy policy and investment a nuisance, it’s refreshing to see yet another province kick its green plans into high gear.

Where do Toronto’s mayoral candidates stand on green government, green energy, green jobs, climate change and the role of municipalities? We’re about to find out on Aug. 31. I’ll be moderating a debate between the candidates at the National Club on 303 Bay St. between 6:30 and 10:00 p.m., an event put together by Toronto Greenhouse.

Rob Ford, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman, and Sarah Thomson have all agreed to participate. Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller will be giving a keynote talk before the debate. The event is open to the public, but tickets are $30 and can be bought online. It should be an insightful evening.