Environment committee  I would just highlight that at the end day, we are in competition for this capital. Mr. Ouellet has accurately pointed out that relative to the United States at this point in time, given the level of support and the choices that are being made, the support for renewable energy de

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. I'm not a doctor, just so you know. To respond to that, as I indicated in the presentation, in the absence of any price on carbon and any realistic market price on carbon, in essence we are faced with a situation where we make choices in the electrici

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I apologize to all committee members for not being able to join you here at the meeting on Tuesday, but as the chair noted, a family matter intervened. I do very much appreciate the opportunity to speak with you here today. The Canadian Wind Ener

Natural Resources committee  The most critical thing is to actually build the generation where the wind resource is. We've been fortunate, in the studies that we've sponsored from CanWEA, which have looked at Ontario and Quebec, to see that there is actually a significant wind resource available near existin

Natural Resources committee  I'll take a first crack at that just to say that we have talked about, on a national level, looking at 20% wind penetration, but it will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The ability to integrate the variable sources will vary depending on the level of interconnectedness, o

Natural Resources committee  I'll add quickly that on the large utility-scale production, the work that's going on in integration does deal with existing sources. In terms of the renewable perspective, the main links that are being looked at for wind are wind-hydro linkages in provinces like Quebec, B.C., Ma

Natural Resources committee  I'll start with the first two and then I'll let my colleagues take the first crack at the third one. Ramea Island is a remote community in Newfoundland that was completely powered by diesel generation sets. Six wind turbines have been installed there by a company called Frontier

Natural Resources committee  I mentioned earlier in my presentation that I thought the crossover point between wind and other technologies would be somewhere between 2010 and 2020. Does that mean federal support will be required after 2011, when the existing ecoENERGY for renewable power program is likely to

Natural Resources committee  Clearly, wind energy is a very capital-intensive industry, and therefore, an initiative like that found in the budget--the extension of the 50% capital cost allowance in class 43.2 from 2012 to 2020--was a very important move from the perspective of the wind energy industry. On

Natural Resources committee  Yes. First, when you want to deploy wind energy, not just in a remote community but in any community, you need to take into consideration how it integrates with other sources. In a remote community you want to ensure that you're looking first at energy efficiency opportunities,

Natural Resources committee  We haven't yet done that on a national scale. It's quite an exercise to do that in terms of, as you said, taking into account generation in different parts of the country, transmission needs, etc. Perhaps the most comprehensive exercise like it that's going on in the country rig

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much for your questions. There's quite a bit there, so if I miss something, please come back. First, there are three things I'll touch on. In terms of public opposition to wind energy projects, I think it's fair to say that it is emerging as more of an issue, bu

Natural Resources committee  We're often asked at what point wind energy becomes cost competitive with everything else. The honest answer to that question is that I don't know. It's an honest answer, because it doesn't just depend on wind energy; it depends on the costs of other sources as well and on what's

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much for the questions. I guess I'll start by pointing out that the 10,000 megawatts in the context that I mentioned is not actually the CanWEA target; it is provincial government targets added together. Is that achievable? Yes. In fact, provincial governments alr