I have received in excess of 50 emails with the following script.
Dear Mayor Farbridge and Guelph City Councillors,
Please work with the Province of Ontario to fully implement Guelph’s Community Energy Initiative. This plan can meet Guelph’s electricity needs more cleanly and more cost efficiently than the Ontario Power Authority’s plan for a new transmission line and a gas peaker plant. Let’s move forward with a plan for the future and not backwards with solutions from the past.
It is in response to an email sent out by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
Is a big gas-fired peaker plant coming to Guelph?
What’s the best way to meet Guelph’s electricity needs? Is it by building a new high voltage transmission line and a $500 million gas peaker plant that would waste more than 60% of the gas it burns heating up the atmosphere? Or would it be better to fully fund and implement Guelph’s innovative Community Energy Initiative, which would put power generation close to where power is being used and greatly ramp up efficiency efforts?
Doubling up on transmission lines feeding Guelph will simply double vulnerability to storms and other events that could knock these long-distance lines out. Putting solar on Guelph rooftops and combined heat and power systems in Guelph basements is a much better way of ensuring the city can keep the lights on in the face of extreme weather or other problems. It’s also a solution that offers both lower costs and lower emissions, making it a win-win-win for Guelph.
Meanwhile, only 3% of Guelph homes and businesses currently participate in the peaksaver program. Why are we thinking of spending half-a-billion dollars on a gas peaker plant before doing much of anything to reduce peak electricity demand? Again, the better solution – reducing peak demand through strong incentives and simple programs – is cheaper and cleaner.
We need strong leadership from Mayor Karen Farbridge and Guelph City Council to persuade the Ontario government to direct the Ontario Power Authority to work with Guelph to implement its Community Energy Initiative.