Sure photo voltaic farms can be banned on prime agricultural land in Ontario because the province expands vitality manufacturing to fulfill demand within the coming many years, Vitality Minister Stephen Lecce mentioned Wednesday.
Ontario is trying so as to add some 5,000 megawatts of vitality to the grid, with Lecce directing the Unbiased Electrical energy System Operator to safe “expertise agnostic” vitality sources. Which means the province will use a mixture of pure gasoline, hydroelectric, renewables, nuclear and biomass vitality sources, he mentioned.
However the province is making efforts to guard key agricultural areas within the course of, the minister mentioned.
Floor-mounted photo voltaic panels can be prohibited on prime agricultural farmland, mentioned Lecce, who pledged the province would “by no means misuse” these lands.
“Our farmers want extra vitality greater than ever,” Lecce mentioned.
“They want entry to to reasonably priced vitality and so we made a dedication to work with them on a coverage that finally will respect prime agricultural land.”
Different vitality merchandise being thought-about on prime agricultural land will now require an influence evaluation earlier than continuing.
The province can be giving energy to municipalities to resolve if they need a selected vitality challenge.
“Lengthy gone are the times the place Queen’s Park imposes tasks on unwilling communities, undermining these agricultural areas,” Lecce mentioned.
The information is welcome to farmers, mentioned Drew Spoelstra, the president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
“The brand new vitality procurement framework is a serious step ahead for Ontario,” he mentioned.
“Dependable and reasonably priced vitality is extremely essential to the expansion of the Ontario financial system, together with meals manufacturing, meals processing and the agri-food sector.”
Farmers and Premier Doug Ford’s authorities have had an up-and-down relationship in recent times in mild of the Greenbelt scandal.
The province had mentioned they have been going to construct 50,000 properties on the protected Greenbelt, which incorporates prime agricultural land. However a number of investigations by provincial our bodies discovered the method was flawed because it favoured some builders with ties to the federal government over others.
Farmers didn’t just like the doable encroachment onto farmland and joined the refrain to denounce the Greenbelt transfer. Final summer season, amid mounting public strain to reverse course, Ford walked again these Greenbelt plans.
Lecce’s announcement Wednesday comes because the province’s electrical energy demand is predicted to develop by about two per cent annually, though that might be even larger relying on electrification inside the broader financial system.
The IESO has mentioned the province will want not less than 60 per cent extra vitality by 2050.
Ontario has additionally lately been including electrical energy storage tasks, with a watch to about 2,500 megawatts, and the IESO mentioned the province’s rising battery fleet will pair nicely with wind and photo voltaic, in order that the facility generated by these strategies may be saved and injected into the grid when wanted.
Ford cancelled 750 renewable vitality contracts shortly after his Progressive Conservatives fashioned authorities in 2018, after the previous Liberal authorities confronted widespread anger over the long-term contracts with clear energy producers at above-market charges.
The province can be shifting forward with nuclear vitality enlargement, together with searching for to refurbish items on the Pickering nuclear plant, construct small modular reactors on the Darlington nuclear plant and exploring a brand new, large-scale plant at Bruce Energy.
In 2021, the electrical energy system was 94 per cent emissions free, however that’s now right down to 87 per cent because it makes use of pure gasoline to fulfill demand.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Aug. 28, 2024.
