There was a time when most cities and small towns throughout Ontario were self-sufficient in electricity. Located on the numerous rivers that run throughout the province - initially to harness the water power to operate their mills and mines – many municipalities in Ontario, by the turn of the 20th century, were producing the power to light their streets, homes and businesses. So pervasive was hydroelectric power throughout the province, that "hydro" has become synonymous with electric power regardless of the actual source of energy.

Power restored
Over time, municipalities lost much of their independent power as local generators were bought up, first by Ontario Hydro, and later by private interests in the push by the Harris government of the 1990s to privatize public municipal utilities, threatening to penalize them with taxes if they didn’t submit to market forces.

Today municipalities are once again being given the opportunity become energy producers under the new Green Energy Act. Under this legislation, municipalities and local distribution companies are able to generate up to 10 MW of renewable energy without having to establish a separate corporation.

Big benefits for municipalities
Municipal ownership of renewable energy generation has many benefits. These include a new source of revenue for municipalities that feed their green power into the grid for a favourable feed-in tariff. Local ownership also means local control of generation, whether that is from wind, solar, biogas or hydro. Another benefit is that when power is produced and consumed locally, there is less of a need to transmit the power long distances, thereby drastically reducing line losses and the need to build expensive and often intrusive transmission lines. Municipal ownership also results in more local economic benefits, not only in terms of revenue but jobs as well. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits, however, is not economic but social: local ownership garners greater acceptance of renewables and raises the awareness of local people of the need for conservation.

Programs to help
Cognizant of the many benefits of municipally-owned renewable energy generation, the Green Energy Act allows the minister to direct the Ontario Power Authority to “develop programs that are designed to reimburse the direct costs incurred by a municipality in order to facilitate the development of renewable energy generation facilities, transmission systems and distribution systems and the funding may include funding for infrastructure associated with or affected by the development of the facilities or systems.”

The OPA has done this, announcing the Municipal Renewable Energy Program, which will provide support to municipalities for costs associated with renewable energy projects, such as repairs to road, drainage infrastructure and traffic management. This funding is intended to cover costs over and above those that the project developers should bear.

OSEA is working closely with a number of municipalities to help them develop renewable energy projects.