IWT Just Removed over $10 million from Ontario Ratepayer and Taxpayer’s Pockets

Suspicious about how those IWT (industrial wind turbines) were generating unneeded power for the past couple of days, a review of IESO data for May 19^th and May 20^th disclosed the awful truth!

Ontario households and businesses took a nasty hit as those IWT were producing nothing but unneeded power for the last couple of days as is their habit in the Spring and Fall.  On May 19^th IESO accepted 31,052 MWh and curtailed 1,200 MW from the IWT generators and then on May 20^th IESO accepted 42,542 MWh and curtailed 6,681 MW.

As is quite frequent during this time of the year the demand for power in Ontario wasn’t needed so IESO were busy getting rid of it selling it off for pennies of its cost to Michigan, New York and Quebec with net exports (exports minus imports) on May 19^th of 55,382 MWh and 56,382 MWh on May 20^th.  As one can easily understand those net-exports on both days were well in excess of what those IWT delivered meaning they were not needed as peak demand on the 19^th reached only 14,413 MW at hour 18 and 15,561 MW on May 20^th at hour 20. 

The parties buying and selling the excess energy surely had a field day as the average HOEP (hourly Ontario energy price) or market price averaged only $10.96 (about one cent per kWh) on May 19^th and  even less on May 20^th as the HOEP averaged $5.92/MWh (less than one cent per kWh).

The net result was IWT generation (accepted and curtailed) on May 19^th cost $4,336,020 and May 20^th IWT generation (accepted and curtailed) cost $6,544,820. Collectively the two days brought those IWT owners’ gross revenue of $10,880,540 due to their “first-to-the-grid” rights under their contracts with IESO.

Over the two days the HOEP sale price of that unneeded IWT generation earned a miniscule $591,515 (5.4% of their cost) putting the net cost of that power (our neighbours happily snapped up) to $10,289,315.

The weight of the McGuinty/Wynne GEA (Green Energy Act) pushed by Gerald Butts continues to hammer Ontarians with costs providing no value except to the owners of those IWT and our neighbours!

Those who voted for the Ford led government surely hoped their gaining a majority in the Provincial Parliament would somehow result in a different outcome. Electricity costs of energy are essential to the daily needs of households and businesses but for some reason their rising costs are not dealt with.

Just another problem brought to us by the “climate change” fanatics our politicians seem unwilling to challenge as we watch our costs rise and energy poverty increase!  

Ontarians Generosity was Again in Evidence on May 16, 2023

Well once again Ontario ratepayer’s and taxpayer’s generosity was in full swing as those IWT (industrial wind turbines) were in full motion throughout the day.  IESO forecast they would generate 60,760 MWh or about 52% of their capacity (enough to supply over 2 million average Ontario households) but accepted 51,130 MWh meaning about 9,630 MWh were curtailed.

The cost of the foregoing at $135/MWh for what was accepted was $6,902,550 plus another $1,155,600 for the curtailed power at $120/MWh bringing the total cost to $8,058,150 for the IWT output. The big problem with yesterday’s IWT output was; we didn’t need it as demand throughout the day was less than what our baseload (nuclear and most hydro) provided and peak demand only reached 14,757 MW at Hour 21.

What the foregoing resulted in was seeing all that surplus generation exported while driving down the market price (HOEP) which averaged only $3.40/MWh over the day.  As a result, IESO data disclosed our net exports (exports minus imports) to Michigan, New York and Quebec were 57,732 MWh. Going further, the IWT accepted generation of 51,130 MWh represented 88.6% of what we gave away. If we included the IWT curtailed generation those IWT could have generated 105% of what we sold off for pennies of their guaranteed “first-to-the-grid” costs.

The results from having those IWT generate their intermittent and unreliable power is costs to Ontarians for just yesterday’s unneeded generation was just shy of $7.9 million.

The above clearly shows how layering unreliable and intermittent generation like wind and solar drives up the costs of our energy consumption.

Despite the obvious there clearly is no intention IESO will reduce those costs as a Press Release from them yesterday illustrates they are going to add yet another layer.  They announced the “largest energy storage procurement ever in Canada“ and the bulk of it will be battery storage allowing the IWT owners to double down on the revenue grab from us ratepayers.  Those battery storage systems will allow them to buy their intermittent wind generation (we are obliged to purchase) for the cheap market price and sell it back into the grid at higher prices when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. 

We should all wonder; when will commonsense ever return or is this meant to drive more of us into “energy poverty” to save the world from “global warming”!

PS: The overnight temperature in most of Southern Ontario in mid-May was around zero (0) degrees Celsius which suggests we may have solved the UNIPCC crisis!

Industrial Wind Turbines Demonstrate their Volatility on May 10, 2023

Well May 10^th clearly demonstrated the volatile nature of IWT yesterday bouncing from producing a low 24 MWh at Hour 9 when they were forecast to produce 25 MWh to a forecast generation of 1,316 MWh at Hour 24 but at that hour IESO only accepted 881 MWh meaning they curtailed about 435 MWh. Those IWT presented themselves in a backward motion as at Hour 9 Ontario’s demand is usually on the rise and at Hour 24 demand is heading down. At Hour 9 it reached 14,077 MW and at Hour 12 it fell to only 12,507 MW which nuclear and hydro easily provided and perhaps why IESO curtailed some of that wind generation we ratepayers are obligated to pay for.

As is frequent during our Spring and Fall seasons demand is almost always low whereas peaks during our summers are often in the 22,000 MW range and in the winter in the 20,000 MW area. Those latter seasonal peaks are generally when the wind isn’t around!

So yesterday, wind was very wimpy and those IWT could have delivered only 12,100 MWh (IESO curtailed about 890 MWh) so would have operated at 10.3% of their capacity which is well below their yearly average of 29/30%. Due to their “first-to-the-grid rights they will be fully paid for what IESO accepted and curtailed even though it wasn’t needed.

Because it was a well below average day for IWT output, it won’t cost Ontario’s ratepayers and taxpayers too much (about $1.6/1.8 million), even though it was probably all exported or caused our cheaper power supply to be sold to our neighbours in Michigan, New York and Quebec.

What the foregoing demonstrates is we ratepayers/taxpayers should be thankful for those too infrequent Spring and Fall days when the wind isn’t blowing.

Wind Disengages but Natural Gas and Hydro to the Rescue

As many know should you fly a propellor driven aircraft you need a fossil fuel engine to make that propellor spin and keep you flying! That analogy also applies to using wind to create electricity utilizing those IWT (industrial wind turbines).  If the wind isn’t blowing, we need either fossil fuel generation, hydroelectricity (water flowing through turbines) or nuclear generation to keep the lights on! Nuclear and most of hydroelectric generation are considered baseload power as is evident on an hourly, daily and annual basis whereas some hydro and natural gas generators stand at the ready to ramp UP or ramp DOWN.  In years past that ability allowed it to respond to the hourly electricity demand throughout the day but since the addition of wind and solar generation it is also required to be at the ready for times when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

Evidence of the foregoing is obvious from the following screenshot from IESO late on May 6^th, 2023, for the six days starting April 30, 2023, up to hour 20 on the 6^th!  The green (sprinkled with a little yellow) depicts the generation from wind with the occasional spot of yellow being solar generation.   

As the expression goes; “a picture is worth a thousand words” and the foregoing does that as wind generation was quite in evidence during the first three May days but suddenly almost disappeared as we traversed into the 4^th and 5^th of May.  Thankfully our natural gas plants were available to fill in for the missing wind and solar generation and the Spring Freshet supplied water for our rammable hydroelectric generation sources.

What wind and solar generation do is basically layer additional costs on to what we pay for electricity in the province with their first to the grid rights.  Ontario’s ratepayers/taxpayers are therefore forced to pickup approximately $6.5 billion of annual costs associated with their; “on again, off again” generation to pretend we are actually having a positive effect on reducing emissions.

Highly unlikely emissions have been reduced considering the emissions generated by the mining and manufacturing processes required for those IWT and solar panels! Ah, but our politicians here in Canada know those emissions were created in another country so will blatantly ignore that latter fact!

As Walter Scott is credited with saying hundreds of years ago; “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!“

The Strathmere Group Have Been Gobbling up our Tax Dollars

As pointed out in a series of eleven articles starting back in September 2020 and concluding in September 2021 the “Strathmere Group”, consisting of ten (10) charities and two (2) not-for-profit entities, were out to save the world from “climate change”! 

The history of the group and their partnership with each other as well as 21 U.S. environmental groups was inspired by none other then Jerry DeMarco who is at present the Federal, Environmental Commissioner, in the Auditor General’s office.  A paper written by DeMarco stated, “environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) must overcome the “silos” isolating them from one another in order to “think and act like a movement”. 

Needless to say, with some minor shuffles in the “Strathmere Group” they certainly overcame the “silo” and now benefit substantially with our tax dollars while we taxpayers suffer the consequences of their agenda which has been totally endorsed by the current minority Federal Liberal Government and supported by the NDP.

The  Strathmere Group and their leaders in 2009 were:

Rick Bates, Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Gerald Butts, President and CEO, WWF-Canada, Bruce Cox, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada, Stephen Hazell, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada, Eric Hebert-Daly, National Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Bob Oliver, Executive Director, Pollution Probe, Devon Page, Executive Director, Ecojustice, Marlo Raynolds, Executive Director, Pembina Institute, Sidney Ribaux, Executive Director, Equiterre, Peter Robinson, President, David Suzuki Foundation, Graham Saul, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada and Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence Canada.

The reader will notice three names have been highlighted above who are; Gerald Butts, Malo Raynolds and Rick Smith and most readers will instantly recognize why! Those three have either played significant roles in executing their beliefs or continue in positions influencing politicians in both the Federal and Provincial governments. Butts will be remembered as being Trudeau’s right-hand man and also responsible for the Green Energy Act pushing renewable energy in Ontario and doubling electricity bills. Raynolds should be regarded as primarily responsible for the Strathmere Group’s formation and mandate. Raynolds was also a losing Liberal candidate in the 2015 Federal election but despite that became Chief of Staff in 2015 under Catherine McKenna when she was Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Rick Smith moved on from President of Environmental Defence to become President of the Canadian Climate Institute created by the Trudeau government with $20 million of our tax dollars to push the “net-zero” agenda.

Interestingly Raynolds now is the “Executive in Residence” at Arc Financial Corp. whose website states: “ARC is focused on investing in conventional oil and gas and in sustainable energy industries. Located in Calgary, the heart of the Canadian energy sector, ARC has access to attractive, competitive opportunities and a pool of talented and experienced entrepreneurs.“ It appears Raynolds has been hired to presumably get ARC to exit the oil and gas sector and move their $6 billion portfolio into those wind, solar and hydrogen renewable developments that he was pushing when Chief of Staff in his former position which presumably included doling out government grants! Surely someone dedicated to the philosophy he visualized when creating the Strathmere Group will continue his life’s mission in his new job!

Our Tax Dollars going to the Strathmere Group members:

As it has been well over two years since the series of articles about the Strathmere Group, it’s worth looking back over the past five (5) years to see if our tax dollars have found their way into the pockets of the ten (10) charities.

While there were twelve members in the group the “charitable status excludes Greenpeace and the Climate Action Network! The latter is simply an association of ENGO (environmental non-government organizations) whereas Greenpeace lost or gave up their charitable status when being investigated by the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency).  The investigation also was reviewing others in the Strathmere Group including; the David Suzuki Foundation, Pembina Foundation, Environmental Defence and Equiterre whose co-founder was reputedly none other than our current Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault.  When the Justin Trudeau Liberal led party won the majority in 2015 one of the early things that happened was the investigation suddenly disappeared.

Accordingly, with the above in mind and the stature of some of those signatures on the Strathmere declaration having risen to places of influence within the bureaucracy of the Federal Government, a review of the charity filings seemed logical.  A look over the past five years of CRA charitable filings was therefore executed along with a review of the Grants and Contributions and the Federal Contracts websites.

What was Discovered:

CRA Filings:

1(a). According to the five years of CRA filings by the ten charities they reported having received $51,440,000 from the Federal Government, $14,985,000 from provincial governments and $677,000 from municipal governments. 

1(b). Those ten charities over the five years have also received $81,723,000 from other Canadian charities plus another $45,208,000 from Foreign parties with a portion of those donations also receiving tax receipts.

1(c). Collectively the ten charities received tax-receipted donations of $253,859,000 but two of the ten charities (World Wildlife Fund and Canadian Wildlife Foundation) received 60% ($152,018,000) of the foregoing with the other eight charities receiving the remaining 40%. Those donations saved the contributors approximately $190.4 million in taxes (75% of contributions) meaning the Federal government deficit increased with absolutely no benefit to ordinary Canadian citizens via improvements to the health care system, reducing poverty, etc. etc.

2. Federal Grants and Contracts:

Reviewing the Federal Grants and Contributions website those ten (10) charities have been granted $48,229.000 over the past five (5) years and via the Contracts website were awarded Federal Contacts of $1,826,000.

Summary:

Looking at just the effect on tax revenues, the ten charities comprising the Strathmere Group basically were responsible for consuming $257.6 million* of our potential and actual tax dollars over those five years.  Those ten ENGO are but a small portion of the active ENGO of whom most are charities and receive tax dollars either directly via grants or benefit from the tax deduction used by their contributors.  The Climate Action Network (a Strathmere Group member) has almost 150 members including such well known names as CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees). 

Other organizations such as the Canadian Environmental Network also have members and regional groups by provinces but the website GoodWork.ca goes well beyond the CAN or CEN by linking to various provincial organizations as well as Green Business & Environment Industry Associations. We should be confident that the hundreds of ENGO and renewable energy companies spread across the country are enjoying the benefits provided by all of the individuals and businesses whose tax dollars they receive.

The Strathmere Group merely highlights the waste of our tax dollars to achieve the “net-zero” target of emissions for Canada when we represent only 1.5% of global emissions. 

Destroying Canada’s economic wellbeing will not change the temperature!

*Forgone taxes $190.4 million plus Federal Grants of $51.4 million plus Provincial Grants of $15 million plus $700K of Municipal Grants = $257.6 million

Where was the Wind on April 26, 2023?

As recently noted, Spring weather in Ontario is often windy and powers those IWT (industrial wind turbines) in the province generating unneeded excess power which we practically give away to our neighbours or curtail!  Either of the foregoing events adds significant costs to Ontario’s ratepayers and taxpayers so it was kind of a pleasant surprise to see some early summer doldrums yesterday. 

The result of the lack of wind yesterday was clearly demonstrated as those 4,900 MW of IWT capacity only generated 4,180 MWh over the full 24 hours meaning they operated at an average of about 3.5% of their capacity. At Hour 9 (hour ending at 9 AM they collectively delivered 4 MWh (0.8% of capacity) or 0.02% of demand (15,698 MW) to the grid!  Generation of only 4 MWh during Hour 9 probably meant they actually consumed more power than they delivered. 

The following screenshot for the day was for the first 21 hours and IWT generation is the thin green line at the top which is often barely visible on those hot summer days when peak demand is frequently north of 21,000 MW. 

At peak hour yesterday which was Hour 20; they managed to deliver 185 MWh of the peak demand of 16,303 MW or a miserly 1.1% of our consumption.

It is worth noting at Hour 9 Ontario’s natural gas plants generated 2,116 MWh and at Peak Hour they added 2,531 MWh to the grid ensuring (in both cases) Ontarians would NOT experience a blackout!

The failure of those IWT yesterday clearly demonstrates the unreliability of IWT so perhaps we should abandon the use of the IWT designation and future references should be UWT (unreliable wind turbines)!

Another April day on the 20th and Wind Generation Adds More Millions to OUR Costs

Well, once again a review of IESO data for April 20^th indicates we taxpayers/ratepayers were negatively impacted!

The wind was blowing pretty good on this Spring Day so IESO forecast those IWT (industrial wind turbines) would generate 63,303 MW (54% of their capacity). Ultimately IESO only accepted 56,339 MW meaning they curtailed about 7,000 MW of the anticipated output.  This happened as we were obliged to pay $135/MWh for the grid accepted generation and $120/MWh for what was curtailed.  The cost to us ratepayers for the IWT generation and curtailed output came to over $8.4 million.

While IESO were obliged to either accept or curtail the IWT generation they were busy exporting our unneeded and surplus power once again to our neighbours in Michigan, New York and Quebec. In total the “net exports” (exports minus imports) reported by IESO were 62,116 MW which easily exceeded the 56,339 MW the IWT provided to the grid.

Based on the foregoing we can, rightly assume, the IWT generation IESO accepted; was not needed so we Ontario ratepayers received absolutely no benefit and instead were obliged to pay the costs of that intermittent and unreliably generation. 

We can therefore conclude no IWT generation was needed at any hour of the day particularly even, when noting the “peak Hour” which only reached 15,821 MW at Hour 20 (hour ending at 8 PM).  If we then look at the average hourly rate, we note it was a very low $6.36/MWh. At peak hour it was even less reaching only $4.50/MWh or 0.045 cents/kWh meaning what we paid $135/MWh got us only $4.50/MWh for a loss per MWh of $130.50. Sure doesn’t make one believe we have a handle on the contracts delivered to those IWT owners!

We should be pretty sure our neighbours appreciated the gift we once again handed them which, if one does the math, it came to a net cost of approximately $8,076,000 after we were paid that miserly $6.36/MWh for the 56,339 MW of the IWT generation.

As a matter of interest just the grid accepted IWT generation we gave away is about what 1.8 million households consume daily!

When, if ever, will our Minister of Energy, Todd Smith, fix this rip-off of us taxpayers/ratepayers should be the question on our minds?

April 17, 2023, was Full Giveaway Day with Wind Generation’s Cost of Millions Handed to our Neighbours

As incredible as it sounds; all of the wind generation from those IWT (industrial wind turbines) spread throughout Ontario on April 17, 2023, were either exported or caused almost all (98.9%) of the IESO reported: net-exports of 60,288 MW!

IWT generation accepted into the grid by IESO was 59,606 MWh whereas the forecast by them was possible generation of 75,047 MW.  Obviously about 14,441 MW were curtailed!  What that tells us is, we didn’t need any IWT generation as our exported electricity generation actually exceeded the IWT accepted generation.

The foregoing means the cost of accepted IWT generation at the contracted price of $135/MWh plus the cost of the curtailed generation at $120/MWh brought the total cost of what was delivered and curtailed to $$9,899,730. 

The average market price or HOEP (hourly Ontario export price) for the full 24 hours was only $8.68/MWh which basically means for all of the IWT accepted generation the 59,606 MWh generated and then exported earned only $517,380.

The foregoing piddly money earned from the sale of our unneeded IWT generation reduced the total cost of what we Ontarians paid for the accepted and curtailed generation to around $9.382 million.

Conclusion:

Ontario’s ratepayers and taxpayers paid $9.382 million for NOTHING which (to paraphrase a former Ontario Liberal Minister of Energy, Bob Chiarelli) amounts to the cost of a large timmies coffee per household!

Wind Generation Cost to us Ontarians on April 13th Hit a Record of $2,054.81 per Megawatt Hour

Well, the wind wasn’t blowing quite as much as April 11^th but what was actually consumed by Ontario’s ratepayers April 14^th set a new record cost; to the best of my knowledge, per MWh!

On April 13^th the 4,900 MW of grid connected capacity in Ontario of those IWT (industrial wind turbines) were forecast by IESO to generate 62,063 MW (52.8% of capacity) but only 53,317 MWh or 45.3% of its capacity was accepted meaning about 8,746 MW were curtailed. 

The math on the above meant total costs to Ontarians (ratepayers and taxpayers) for IWT generation was $6,722,325 for grid accepted generation at $135/MWh plus $1,049,520 at $120/MWh for curtailed generation so it totaled $7,771,845.

Just like two days earlier we didn’t need what those IWT generated as demand, while somewhat higher, throughout the day, peaked at 16,488 MW at Hour 19 (hour ending at 7 PM) and was only slightly over 16,000 MW for three hours (hour 18 to hour 20) of the whole day.

As it was on April 11^th, IESO were busy selling the surplus power off with most of it going to Michigan, New York, and Quebec.  The average market price or HOEP (hourly Ontario export price) over the 24 hours was only $10.74/MWh and net exports (exports minus imports) were 93.4% (49,795 MW) of the grid accepted IWT generation.  Total net exports (exports minus imports) were 53,317 MW resulting in us ratepayers only receiving $534,798 (49,795 MW X $10.74 = $534,798) for the exported IWT generation.

As previously noted, we should assume most of the surplus we sold to our neighbours was either all IWT generated power or caused by it meaning Ontarians consumption of IWT generation was only 3,522 MW of the IESO accepted 53,317 MW generated by them.

Taking the foregoing logic to the next step we can easily calculate the cost of the 3,522 MW of IWT generation we consumed!  The math is simple; The total cost of IWT generation (grid accepted and curtailed) of $7,771,845 minus the $534,798 generated from their sale to our neighbours divided by the 3,522 MW we consumed in Ontario i.e., $7,237,047/3,522 MW = $2,054.81/MWh.*

Wow, the $2,054.81/MWh it cost us on April 13, 2023, for IWT generation is rather mind-boggling and who knows, it may well have happened in the past but unless you examine IESO data on a daily basis one would never know, although the $6.5 billion taxpayers absorb annually to keep rates at current levels may be why we don’t notice.

In the process of putting together this information a quick glance at generation today on April 14^th disclosed IWT generation had dropped to the point where they generated 84 MW for Hour 17 and Hour 18 clearly disclosing why IWT are labelled intermittent and unreliable. The 84 MW could well be less than they are actually consuming to keep that light blinking on and off at the top of their towers!

We clearly don’t need them for grid connected generation and it is so disappointing our politicians won’t accept that obvious fact and rescind their “first-to-the-grid” rights!

*Equal to $2.05/kWh

Wind Generation Cost Ontarians $610.67 per Megawatt Hour on April 11th

The above headline sounds “kind of” over the top but as it turns out its factual!

The wind was blowing strong throughout the day on April 11^th and the 4,900 MW of grid connected capacity of those IWT (industrial wind turbines) were generating lots!  IESO forecast they would generate 82,184 MWh (69.9% of capacity) but they only accepted 77,315 MWh (65.7% of capacity) suggesting 4,869 MW were curtailed. 

The quick math on the above means the total costs to Ontarians (ratepayers and taxpayers) was $10,437,525 for accepted generation ($135/MWh) plus $584,280 for curtailed generation ($120/MWh) so totaled $11,021,805.

The big problem with the accepted IWT generation yesterday was we didn’t need most of it as demand was low throughout the day and only reached 15,624 at its peak at Hour 20 (hour ending at 8 PM). As it turned out IESO were busy selling the surplus power off with most of it going to Michigan, New York, and Quebec.  If one, then examines the average market price or HOEP (hourly Ontario export price) over the 24 hours we discover it averaged a lowly $4.70/MWh.  Over the day net exports (exports minus imports) were 59,726 MWh or 77.3% of the grid accepted IWT generation meaning we received only $280,712 (59,726 MW X $4.70 = $280,712) for that surplus generation.

Should we, logically, assume the surplus we sold to our neighbours was either all IWT generation or caused by it; we Ontarians only consumed or needed 17,589 MW of the 77,315 MW IESO accepted of IWT generated power over the day.

Taking the foregoing logic to the next step we can easily calculate the cost of those 17,589 MW of IWT generation we consumed!  The math is simple: the total cost of IWT generation (grid accepted and curtailed) of $11,021,805 minus the $280,712 generated from their sale to our neighbours divided by the 17,589 MW we consumed in Ontario: i.e. $10,741,093/17,589 MW = $610.67/MWh.

Wow, the $610.67/MWh it cost us on April 11, 2023, for IWT generation, is not uncommon and what we frequently experience during the Spring and Fall seasons when our electricity demand is low.

Peak levels often are well over 20,000 MW per hour during hot summer days or cold winter ones when IWT generation is frequently absent!

The time has come for the Provincial government under Doug Ford to recognize the mess the McGuinty/Wynne government created and finally do something about it.  We ratepayers and taxpayers should not be shouldering the burden of this intermittent and unreliable power!

Fix the mess and get rid of electricity costing us $610.67/MWh and recognize Ontario’s electricity sector is over 90% emissions free!