Local Clean Energy a High Priority for Canadian Provinces

By John Farrell | August 1, 2011
Source: RenewableEnergyWorld.com

Ontario’s “buy local” energy policy has the promise of 43,000 local jobs from 5,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy. Now Nova Scotia is showing a strong interest in boosting the economic returns of its clean energy program.

The maritime province is completing rulemaking for a provincial goal of 40 percent renewable power by 2020 that includes a 100-MW set-aside for community-owned distributed generation projects. The policy promises to increase the economic activity from its renewable energy goal by $50 to $240 million.

Under the Community Feed-in Tariff (ComFIT), the community-owned projects will receive 20-year contracts for power at rates sufficient to ensure a reasonable return on investment...[Full Story]