Green power engineers’ alert

This month the Dalton McGuinty Government of Ontario is due to issue requests for proposals from companies interested in building small and medium-sized community renewable energy projects. They are asking for projects of under 20 megawatts capacity, totalling 200 megawatts of power in all.
Earlier, in April, the government released a request for proposals from companies interested in building green power generation facilities of more than 20 megawatts capacity. The proposal call is for wind, water, solar, biomass and landfill gas power generation projects amounting to 1,000 megawatts. Proponents have until August to submit their proposals.
The province’s Ministry of Natural Resources has promised to make Crown lands available for water power developments, and the province is also looking at encouraging agriculture-based renewable energy projects.
The province is also signing on companies to build gas-powered generation. In May it announced that Eastern Power will build two gas-fired generation facilities in the Greater Toronto Area — the Greenfield North and South projects in Mississauga, west of the city, of 280 megawatts each. Thirty-three proponents had expressed interest in building the gas generating stations following a call last December.
The province is facing an energy shortage, especially since it is closing down its coal-fired generating stations. It closed down the Lakeview generating station in Mississauga this spring.