As we have come to expect in Ontario, “peak demand” generally occurs on hot summer days and the hour ending at hour 17 on August 20th was the most recent occurrence coming in at # 8 of “peak demand hours” so far this year.
Demand at the above hour reached 21,569 MW and the bulk of that needed demand was supplied by Nuclear, Hydro and Natural Gas generators. At that hour gas plants supplied 25.9% (5,587 MW) of demand while wind generators managed to produce only 0.45% (98 MW) of demand and the bulk (53 MW) of that came from the Greenwich Renewable Energy Project a 99 MW station located Northeast of Thunder Bay so none of their generation was useful in the well populated areas of the province. The other 40 plus wind turbine generating stations scattered throughout the province produced only 45 MW which probably didn’t even cover their consumption during that hour.
The foregoing fact is something you will not hear from the OCAA (Ontario Clean Air Alliance) whose push is to close out gas plants. The OCAA’s push to close gas plants has reputedly been endorsed by 30 Ontario Municipalities representing over 50% of the province’s population.
In an effort to push the alarm button further the OCAA has called for all their followers to: “Please contact Ontario’s new Minister of Energy, Todd Smith, and ask him to direct the IESO to develop and implement a plan to achieve a complete phase-out of our gas-fired power plants by 2030.”
What Jack Gibbons the Chair and CEO of OCAA doesn’t seem to understand is that the events of hour 17 are frequent during the very hot days of summer and the very cold days during the winter. If Minister of Energy, Todd Smith, followed through with the OCAA’s recommendations Ontario’s ratepayers would be faced with numerous brownouts and even full blackouts during the dead of winter and the heat of summer.
I would suggest the ratepayers of Ontario should write a letter to the councils of the 30 municipalities informing them of the above facts and recommending they rescind their endorsement to shut down Ontario’s gas plants by 2030 as proposed by the OCAA.
You can find the full list of the municipalities that have endorsed the closure by simply clicking on the following.
Ontario Municipalities that have endorsed gas power phase-out
Parker Gallant Energy Perspectives 
UGLY TRUTH: To heat my home a cold season requires 2,200 m³ Natural Gas when kept at 20 ℃ daytime and 16 ℃ nighttime. This is 21 MW·h. Or $4,700 and going up if electricity. NG costs $700 for entire heating season. This is well below average in Canada. My furnace is 97% efficient. Renewables=ruinables. Add cost of electric furnace, larger service & grid. Add 60% at 25 ℃. Add “carbon tax”. Energy poverty for many people. Less disposable income for all. And worst of all, more CO₂ does not affect the temperature of planet Earth.
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Every day, like yesterday, when the turbines were not running, is a relief for those who are being harmed by the noise emissions. Since the harm is both cumulative and irreversible over the torturous 20 year duration of the long term contracts, this means people don’t have to leave their homes to reduce the harm.
Why is it acceptable to force people to seek safety away from their homes?
These people did not consent to being harmed by this experiment.
In fact, they were told they would not be harmed.
Why is it acceptable to use rural residents as collateral damage ‘for the greater good’ when Natural Gas is an option?
Will anyone write a letter to Minister Todd Smith? And if they do, will he even see their letters and respond with anything but a ‘canned’/ automated response thanking them for their comments and assuring them that he values their thoughts?
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Got this e-mail from a contact that I felt should be posted:
“Mr. Gibbons et al,
This morning I sent the following. I am sending it now to you with a further explanation.
I live southeast of Ottawa in the Nation Rise Wind project. It is a 100 Mw project using prototype turbines which are too big, too close and too clustered to homes for their size.
One blade was damaged during construction. I have attached a video of the damaged 69m blade being broken up and put in a container. The people do not know/were not told of the hazardous waste content, impact on the area (note the clouds of dust) or where the blade remains would be taken. This is only one blade of the many in Ontario; how were the others treated, where did they go?
When the turbines in the Nation Rise wind project operate, people’s health is adversely affected. Adverse health and noise incident reports have been filed since December, 2020.
There are currently thousands of such reports filed by Ontario residents living in every industrial wind turbine project in Ontario. None of these legally filed reports have been resolved; Ontario residents, children and seniors are being harmed with more people forced to leave their homes, through no fault of their own, to protect their health. This is totally unacceptable.
Mr. Gibbons, should you and your board wish, I can send you documented proof of harm to people from IWTs in Ontario and around the world. Reports have been published using Ontario data of people considering and forced to leave their homes. https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperabs.aspx?paperid=100240
Then consider how useless but costly these industrial wind turbine projects are. I have attached yesterday’s wind production which supports what Mr. Gallant states in his article. We also know of the blackouts in California, Texas and Australia.
It is long overdue that the harm to health caused by industrial wind turbines be addressed, long overdue for wind companies to prove their reliability and justify their high costs. I have attached yesterday’s wind power production. The Nation Rise/Cysler wind project (cut off in attachment) produced 44 Mw August 21, 2021.
I respectfully remind you of the short life span of these turbines, or their environmental cost to produce, install and decommission. I ask you to rescind your request to phase out natural gas plants, rescind your support for any and all industrial wind turbines and support the greener power technologies of Ontario.
Thank you for your consideration.”
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