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$559 million in Green Infrastructure Investments announced for Greater Montreal Area

Following last week's similar announcement for Québec City, Ms. Line Beauchamp, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, and Mr. Steven Blaney, MP for Lévis-Bellechasse, today announced joint federal-provincial support for major Green Infrastructure Projects in the Greater Montreal Area (the "Projects").

The Projects represent an overall investment of $559 million and involve the construction of two facilities for organic waste treatment using anaerobic digestion, two composting centers and one pilot organic waste pretreatment facility, at a cost of close to $213 million. In addition, three more organic waste treatment facilities which would be constructed in Laval, Longueuil and Montreal's South Shore would benefit from additional joint federal-provincial financing of approximately $180 million, with the balance to be financed via municipal contributions.

The Projects will allow for the treatment of a large part of the organic waste generated in the Greater Montreal Area, including Laval and Montreal's South Shore. The biomethanization process used in the facilities will allow for the treatment of table scraps, septic sludge and organic waste from homes, factories and institutions, while the composting process will also treat table scraps, leaves and grass clippings produced in the municipalities and agglomerations. Ultimately, these Projects will limit the amount of waste sent to municipal landfill sites and allow, in the case of anaerobic digestion, for the production of bioenergy to replace fossil fuel and combustibles, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs).

Of the overall investment, the Government of Canada has committed to contribute close to $150 million, or up to one third of eligible costs. The federal contribution to the Project will be provided through the new, $1-billion, five-year, nation-wide Green Infrastructure Fund, which is part of Canada's Economic Action Plan announced in the January 2009 Budget. The Green Infrastructure Fund supports sustainable energy generation and transmission, as well as wastewater treatment and solid waste management at the municipal level.

As for the Government of Québec, it is to fund approximately $165 million of the Projects. The provincial contribution is being granted under the province's Program for the Treatment of Organic Matter through Biomethanization and Composting (French-only) (the "Program") which benefits from a total investment of about $650 million, of which at least $187 million is to come from the Government of Québec. Projects funded under the Program are to create approximately 5,200 direct and indirect jobs. The Program aims to implement one of the major components of Québec's new Management of Residual Materials Policy (French-only) by progressively banning the landfilling of organic matter by 2020, while contributing to the achievement of the province's GHG emissions reduction target.

The federal government is also evaluating other biomethanization projects to be undertaken in the province of Québec under the Green Infrastructure Fund. The total federal investment in these biomethanization projects could reach more than $170 million.

Governments of Canada and of Québec announce major Green Infrastructure Investment in Québec City

Today the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister for La Francophonie and Minister responsible for the Québec City Region, Ms. Line Beauchamp, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, and Mr. Sam Hamad, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity and Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale region of Québec, announced support for a major Green Infrastructure Project in Québec City (the "Project"). The Project represents a global investment of $57 million and will create more than 450 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

The Project involves the construction of an organic waste treatment facility, including biomethanization and composting equipment. In its first five years of operation, it is expected the facility will be capable of treating up to 70% of the organic waste produced by the entire population of Québec City. Once at full capacity, it will treat up to 85,000 tonnes of organic waste previously destined to incineration. Biomethanization is the process of decomposing biomass with anaerobic bacteria to produce biogas, a Green Fuel that can displace fossil fuels in automotive or home heating applications.

Of the overall investment, the Government of Canada has committed to contribute close to $17 million, or up to one third of eligible costs. The federal contribution to the Project will be provided through the new, $1-billion, five-year, nation-wide Green Infrastructure Fund, which is part of Canada's Economic Action Plan announced in the January 2009 Budget. The Green Infrastructure Fund supports sustainable energy generation and transmission, as well as wastewater treatment and solid waste management at the municipal level.

As for the Government of Québec, it is to fund approximately $17.7 million of the Project. The provincial contribution is being granted under the province's Program for the Treatment of Organic Matter through Biomethanization and Composting (French-only) (the "Program") which benefits from a total investment of about $650 million, of which at least $187 million is to come from the Government of Québec. Projects funded under the Program are to create approximately 5,200 direct and indirect jobs. The Program aims to implement one of the major components of Québec's new Management of Residual Materials Policy (French-only) by progressively banning the landfilling of organic matter by 2020, while contributing to the achievement of the province's GHG emissions reduction target.

Québec City Mayor Régis Labeaume announced that the remainder of the Project's cost will be borne by the City.

The federal government is also evaluating other biomethanization projects to be undertaken in the province of Québec under the Green Infrastructure Fund. The total federal investment in these biomethanization projects could reach more than $170 million.

Canadian government announces nineteen successful projects in response to a call for proposals under the Renewable and Clean Energy portion of the Clean Energy Fund

The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, today announced support for nineteen (19) projects selected in response to a call for proposals under the Renewable and Clean Energy portion of the Clean Energy Fund. Up to $146 million will be invested over five (5) years to support the demonstration of renewable and clean energy across the country, including integrated community energy solutions, smart grid technology, and renewable applications with solar, wind, tidal and geothermal energy.

Under the Clean Energy Fund, part of the Government of Canada's Economic Action Plan (Budget 2009), the government is to invest almost $1 billion over five (5) years in research, development and demonstration projects to advance Canadian leadership in clean energy technologies. This includes large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects, three (3) of which have already been announced totaling $466 million from the fund, as well as smaller-scale demonstration projects of renewable and alternative energy technologies such as those announced today. Total investments under the Clean Energy Fund for large and small demonstration projects are to benefit Canada's economy by leveraging nearly $3.5 billion in further investments by industry and other levels of government.

The Government is now inviting the project proponents to begin negotiations toward formal contribution agreements to set the conditions under which funding will be delivered. The funding amounts are expected to range from $2.5 million to $20 million for each project. However, until a written contribution agreement is signed by both parties, no commitment or obligation exists on the part of the Government of Canada to make a financial contribution to these projects.

Successful Project Descriptions

A) Projects expected to receive $2.5-$5 million

1. Biomass-based Urban Central Heating Demonstration
Lead proponent: SSQ, Société immobilière Inc.
Strategic Area: Buildings/Community Energy Systems
Location: Québec, Québec
Purpose: La Cité Verte is an innovative real estate project, which combines various initiatives related to sustainable development such as renewable energy utilization, energy efficient design, the management of water consumption, energy and waste management. The funding will support the installation of a biomass and wood-based district heating system. This project combines a variety of technologies and partners.

2. Utility-scale Electricity Storage Demonstration using New and Re-purposed Lithium Ion Automotive Batteries
Lead proponent: CEATI International Inc.
Strategic Area: Electricity Storage
Location: Toronto and Cornwall, Ontario, and Manitoba
Purpose: This project will address electricity storage for renewable and high-density urban applications. The project will demonstrate utility-scale electricity storage systems using new and re-purposed automotive batteries. This concept will reduce cost for electric vehicle batteries providing a future market to meet urban electricity demand using automotive batteries.

3. Energy Management Business Intelligence Platform Development and Demonstration
Lead proponent: Power Measurement Ltd.
Strategic Area: Smart Grid
Location: Commercial buildings in Calgary, Alberta, Ontario and BCIT in Burnaby, British Columbia
Purpose: This project will develop and demonstrate smart grid technology, voluntary load curtailment and peak shaving in a commercial building setting. Most projects of this type to date have focused on residences. This technology will also enable tenants to voluntarily reduce their demand based on real-time price signals.

4. Wind and Storage Demonstration in a First Nations Community
Lead proponent: Cowessess First Nation
Strategic Area: Wind/Storage
Location: Cowessess, Saskatchewan
Purpose: This project aims to demonstrate a combined wind and storage energy system in a First Nation community. The successful demonstration would prove this system as a model for other First Nation's communities across Canada.

5. Bioenergy Optimization Program Demonstration
Lead proponent: Manitoba Hydro
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: Five locations in Manitoba
Purpose: This project is comprised of five different bioenergy systems at five different project sites. The project demonstrates collaboration between utility companies and customers. It is anticipated that the project will help to remove the perceived barrier of technical and operational risk and will promote the wide-scale adoption of bioenergy systems in Canada.

6. Offshore Wave Energy Demonstration
Lead proponent: SyncWave Systems Inc.
Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro
Location: Offshore Central Vancouver Island near Tofino, British Columbia
Purpose: This project will demonstrate the performance, operations and life cycle of a pre-commercial 100-kW wave energy device in ocean conditions typical of British Columbia's open coast. Canada has potentially significant wave energy resources, and it is important for Canada to participate in demonstrations to further the technology, understanding of ocean conditions and the regulatory environment.

7. Demonstration of Waste-heat Recovery at Compressor Stations
Lead proponent: Great Northern Power Corp.
Strategic Area: Hybrid Systems/Northern
Location: Compressor Stations in Alberta and British Columbia
Purpose: This project plans to demonstrate waste-heat recovery systems on a variety of stationary, reciprocating engines greater than 1,000 hp. A successful demonstration has the opportunity to lead to commercialization and wide-scale adoption of this technology at compressor stations and other industrial applications across Canada.

8. Residential Implementation of Solar-thermal Heating Systems
Lead proponent: Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc.
Strategic Area: Buildings/Solar
Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario
Purpose: The project will use different types of solar collectors and storage technologies to verify and compare their costs, performance and technical qualities. The project has the ability to validate the technology and provide integrated systems at a lower cost to consumers, thereby allowing greater market penetration.

9. Food and Yard Waste Anaerobic Digestion to Electricity Demonstration
Lead proponent: Harvest Power Canada Ltd.
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre, British Columbia
Purpose: This project would be Canada's first high-efficiency system for producing up to 1 MW of renewable energy from food and yard waste. If successful, this technology has the potential to be rapidly deployed across Canada as a mechanism to divert food wastes from landfills and produce renewable energy.

B) Projects expected to receive $5-$10 million

10. Demonstration of Heat and Power from Biomass Gasification
Lead proponent: Nexterra Systems Corp.
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: UBC Point Grey Campus, Vancouver, British Columbia
Purpose: This project will showcase biomass gasification integrated with an internal combustion engine generator in a novel, small-scale combined heat and power demonstration suited for on-site applications at public institutions, industrial facilities, and northern and remote Canadian communities. The project has the potential to overcome the difficulty of gas clean up and opens up the possibility of significant replication in Canada and overseas.

11. Energy Storage and Demand Response for Near-capacity Substation
Lead proponent: BC Hydro
Strategic Area: Smart Grid/Electricity Storage
Location: Golden and Field, British Columbia
Purpose: This project demonstrates the integration of energy storage as a mechanism for reducing electricity demand at near-peak capacity substations. This type of solution has the ability to be used in other remote communities where the grid reliability is low and the cost of the transmission line upgrade is uneconomical.

12. Interactive Smart Zone Demonstration in Québec
Lead proponent: Hydro-Québec - Institut de recherche
Strategic Area: Smart Grid
Location: Boucherville, Québec
Purpose: This project will ensure the installation of an interactive network area in a neighbourhood of Boucherville. This will demonstrate different technologies and concepts related to modernization of electrical networks, in particular the deployment of infrastructure for charging electric and hybrid rechargeable vehicles.

13. Biomass and Coal Co-firing Demonstration in Coal Plants
Lead proponent: Nova Scotia Power
Strategic Area: Bioenergy
Location: Coal Plants in Nova Scotia
Purpose: This demonstration project aims to determine optimum fuel blends for the potential co-firing of wood-based biomass with coal as a mechanism to partially replace fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources in coal plants. If successful, there is potential for wide-scale implementation across Canada and the United States.

C) Projects expected to receive $10-$20 million

14. Tidal Energy Project in the Bay of Fundy
Lead proponent: Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE)
Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro
Location: Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
Purpose: The project plans to validate the performance and resilience of tidal current turbines in the Minas Passage of the Bay of Fundy. This will be the first Canadian deployment of commercial-scale tidal turbines. The project has the potential to advance tidal energy in Canada, provide economic impacts in the Atlantic region and place Canada as a world leader in marine renewable energy.

15. Northern Application of a Geothermal District Heating System
Lead proponent: City of Yellowknife
Strategic Area: Northern/Community Energy System
Location: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Purpose: The City of Yellowknife is in advanced stages of project engineering and plans to install a district heating system by extracting heat from the abandoned Con Mine. This project has the potential to provide a cost effective and a more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuel based heat. The information that will come out of this project on the effect of extracting ground-source heat from an existing aquifer and its associated long-term heat capacity will help determine if this technology could be replicated in other northern communities.

16. Electricity Load Control Demonstration
Lead proponent: New Brunswick Power Corporation
Strategic Area: Smart Grid
Location: Four maritime communities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
Purpose: Traditionally, to accommodate the intermittent nature of wind power, other generation sources are required to follow the net effect of variation in load and wind power production. This project focuses on the integration between smart grid technologies, customer loads and intermittent renewables in a region with potentially significant renewable electricity capacity. It will allow utilities to better understand how customers will react to smart grid and which loads can be controlled by real-time demand balancing in up to 750 buildings, thereby assisting these utilities to capitalize on renewable resources in the region.

17. A 9-MW Wind Technology Research and Development Park
Lead proponent: Wind Energy Institute of Canada
Strategic Area: Wind/Storage
Location: Prince Edward Island
Purpose: The 9-MW wind park proposed will be the first wind/storage combination in Prince Edward Island. The project's research base has a strong focus on information dissemination and would be a good base for supporting additional wind research.

18. Demonstration of Fish-friendly and VLH Turbines in Existing Low-head Water-control Dams
Lead proponent: Eco Joule Inc.
Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro
Location: Mississippi River System, Ontario
Purpose: This project will demonstrate three in-stream hydro technologies including fish-friendly, low-head hydro turbines along an existing water-controlled river system in Ontario. It has the opportunity to prove the technology concept, demonstrate cooperation with a conservation organization, and reduce the barriers to commercialization.

19. Community-based Geothermal Demonstration in a Remote First Nations Community
Lead proponent: Borealis GeoPower Inc./Acho Dene Koe First Nation
Strategic Area: Hybrid Systems/Northern
Location: Fort Liard, Northwest Territories
Purpose: This project will demonstrate how a northern community can use a geothermal resource to generate electricity and heat, thereby reducing the entire community's fossil fuel demand and energy costs. A successful demonstration will provide a model for other northern and First Nations communities with available geothermal resources.

International Energy Agency launches World Energy Outlook 2009 in London

The International Energy Agency>International Energy Agency ("IEA") today launched its annual flagship publication in London. The World Energy Outlook 2009 (WEO 2009) looks at the impact of the economic downturn on energy use, CO2 emissions and energy investment and what will be required at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen to put together an agreement that stops global temperatures rising at a price that is affordable. The WEO 2009 also focuses on the natural gas resource base, current trends and the role gas will play in the future energy mix. Finally, the publication includes a review of energy in Southeast Asia, looking at that fast-growing region and its implications for global energy markets.

The IEA's Executive Director, Mr. Nobuo Tanaka declared that "World leaders gathering in Copenhagen next month for the UN Climate summit have a historic opportunity to avert the worst effects of climate change. The World Energy Outlook 2009 seeks to add momentum to their negotiations at this crucial stage by detailing the practical steps needed for a sustainable energy future as part of a global climate deal" and added that "WEO 2009 provides both a caution and grounds for optimism. Caution, because a continuation of current trends in energy use puts the world on track for a rise in temperature of up to 6°C and poses serious threats to global energy security. Optimism, because there are cost-effective solutions to avoid severe climate change while also enhancing energy security - and these are within reach as the new Outlook shows".

In conjunction with the WEO 2009, the IEA has also released an Executive Summary which provides an overview of the publication's key findings and topics, as well as a Fact Sheet, which provides data in a bullet-point format on the following questions and issues: (1) The sustainability of our current energy pathway; (2) The Impact of the financial crisis on Energy Investment (3) Natural gas' role in the global energy mix; (4) What a low-carbon energy future might look like; (5) The impact of the financial crisis on the outlook for CO2 emissions and global climate; (6) Assumptions on Energy Prices, volatility and the future of cheap energy.

Copies of the World Energy Outlook 2009 can be ordered from the IEA Bookshop.

CD Howe Institute questions cost effectiveness of biofuels subsidies

The CD Howe Institute recently released "Going Green for Less: Cost-Effective Alternative Energy Sources", a comparative analysis of federal and provincial greenhouse gas ("GHG") mitigation incentive programs (the "Report"). The Report concludes that the government is currently over-investing expensive liquid bio-fuels programs and is under-investing in most cost-effective programs renewable heat and power programs.

The Report analyzes programs for liquid biofuels, renewable power, and renewable heat. The life-cycle emissions mitigation potential of each is measured against the technology that they would most likely replace (e.g., emissions from bio-diesel were compared against those from conventional diesel). The financial incentive for each program is then normalized using the calculated emissions mitigation potential to give a dollar-per-tonne measure of cost effectiveness. The Report acknowledges that the calculations are subject to many assumptions.

The Report summarizes the results as follows:

"The lowest-cost government incentive programs identified are for renewable heat and power technologies such as wind power, solar air and hot water heating, and biomass pellet heating, as well as energy retrofitting strategies. For these programs, mitigation could be realized at $10-to-$60 of government subsidy per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) offset.

In contrast, the most expensive government incentives were found to be liquid biofuels, which ranged from $295-to-$430/tonne of CO2e for ethanol and $122-to-$175/tonne of CO2e for biodiesel. The federal government's $4.5 billion ecoENERGY program has dedicated over half of the total budget towards liquid biofuels." [emphasis added]

Having concluded that the government has a tendency to place big bets on the wrong technology, the Report recommends a technology-neutral alternative to existing programs. It suggests setting a carbon emissions "bounty" of between $30-50 per tonne CO2e, payable to any technology that could demonstrate verifiable reductions. However, the Report acknowledges that universal price on carbon, such as that established by a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, would be preferrable to an improved carbon subsidy.

Green energy is the next hot intellectual property sector

As reported in the March issue of Lawyers Weekly, patent filing is a booming area of practice for many Canadian firms. In particular, Davis LLP lawyer Ken Cancellara predicts that there will be a rush to protect intellectual property in the alternative energy sector:

"The Internet isn't the only reason for the increased legal business related to patents. The market 'is stable as far as general industries are concerned, but it's growing and about to explode in another area,' noted Kenneth Cancellara, a partner with Davis LLP in Toronto.That explosion is being felt in the energy sector, and it is especially pronounced in the alternative energy field. 'You can't pick up a newspaper today without reading about biofuels,' said Cancellara.

'If I had a prediction to make,' he added, 'it will be that this area is as important as the pharmaceutical [sector] issues in the 1980s. In the next two to five years, protection of alternative energy sources will become absolutely essential to the survival of the sector.'"

The full text of the article is available here.

BC launches Standard Offer Program for clean power projects between 0.05 and 10MW

Posted by Andrew Lord

BC continues to deliver on the BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership. On April 11, BC Hydro launched a Standard Offer Program (the "BC SOP"). The BC SOP is intended to complement BC's traditional power tender process by giving smaller developers a streamlined way to sell power to BC Hydro.

The BC SOP sets out several eligibility requirements, including but not limited to the following:

• The project must be located in BC;
• It must have a nameplate capacity between 0.05 and 10 MW;
• The energy generated by the project must be clean, renewable or high efficiency co-generation;
• Only proven generation technologies are eligible (but nuclear is excluded). Proven generation technologies must meet specific criteria in the SOP Rules, particularly that the technology has been used in at least three plants, each for at least three years, to a standard of reliability generally required by Good Utility Practice (as defined in the Standard Form Electricity Purchase Agreement);
• All prescribed permits must be obtained before an application is submitted;
• The developer must have rights to use the proposed project site and that site must be appropriately zoned; and
• The project must also be able to interconnect to the grid. However, a formal interconnection study is not required until the project has been pre-screened by BC Hydro.

For developers, a key feature of the BC SOP is that BC Hydro will enter into a long term power purchase agreement. The proposed Standard Form Electricity Purchase Agreement gives developers the option of selecting a term of anywhere from 20 to 40 years (in whole years).

The pricing mechanism in the BC SOP is significantly different from that in Ontario's Standard Offer Program. In Ontario, the price per kilowatt hour depends on the type of generation technology used. For example, wind power fetches $0.11/kWh whereas photovoltaic power commands $0.42/kWh. Under BC's program, the price will not vary by generating technology. Instead, the price will be based on the following:

1. A base price that will depend on where in the province the power will be delivered to BC Hydro. The base prices listed in the SOP Rules currently range from $0.06994/kWh in Peace Region to $0.08423/kWh on Vancouver Island;


2. A CPI escalation of the base price up to the year when the Electricity Purchase Agreement is signed;


3. A time of day and month price adjustment. The adjustments currently range from a factor of 126% for Heavy Load Hours in February to 72% for Light Load Hours in July; and


4. The price of Environmental Attributes (if applicable). Currently, that price is set at $0.0310/kWh (to be CPI-adjusted) for any project that receives an Environmental Certification and delivers power to BC Hydro. The adjustment in point (3) will not be applied to the price of Environmental Attributes.

The price paid for Environmental Attributes reflects the fact that the Standard Form Electricity Purchase Agreement provides that the developer must assign all rights to Environmental Attributes to BC Hydro. This provision means that developers cannot sell the Environmental Attributes to other market players as part of voluntary carbon offsets, BC Emissions Reductions Units (under BC's proposed cap-and-trade law), renewable energy certificates (RECs), or other instruments that are based on Environmental Attributes. The provision may therefore limit a developer's flexibility in obtaining carbon financing for their project. However, the approval process under the BC Standard Offer Program provides developers with an opportunity to request changes to the Standard Form Electricity Purchase Agreement. Some developers may attempt to negotiate out of the Environmental Attributes assignment clause.

The SOP also provides for some cost-sharing. The developer is responsible for certain interconnection costs while BC Hydro will bear the costs of certain network upgrades.

For more information about the BC SOP, refer to the Standing Offer Program Rules and the Standard Form Electricity Purchase Agreement.