Perth council’s committee recently received a presentation from their Climate Change Committee member Tony Hendriks on needed changes to achieve a renewable energy policy.
Municipalities across Ontario are working to reduce operating costs while preparing for increased electricity demand as buildings, fleets, and equipment become increasingly electrified. Renewable energy can play an important role in achieving these goals. However, current regulations and program limitations prevent municipalities from fully utilizing locally generated renewable electricity.
Hendriks proposed requesting that the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, and their agencies work with municipalities to implement a series of priorities;
1. Enable virtual net metering to allow municipalities to apply electricity generated at one municipal property to electricity consumed at other municipal facilities. This would allow municipalities to develop solar projects on suitable municipal lands, even when individual buildings are not appropriate for rooftop installations.
2. Provide long-term policy certainty. Renewable energy projects are planned over decades. Municipalities require stable, predictable policies so they can invest with confidence.
3. Expand funding opportunities to increase support for municipal renewable energy projects, battery storage, and grid modernization to help reduce long-term operating costs.
4. Streamline approvals by simplifying the approval processes for municipal renewable energy projects while maintaining appropriate environmental and safety standards.
5. Support municipal demonstration projects to provide opportunities for municipalities to participate in pilot projects involving virtual net metering, community energy systems, battery storage, and other innovative approaches.
He argued that this would deliver better value for taxpayers. Council’s committee voted to refer his motion of support back to the Climate Change Committee for their approval, before taking action.
Story by Brian Turner
