From a province that is just catching up, to a country that has been doing it right for years. In Germany, it's not particularly sunny or windy, yet it is by far the worlds leader in renewable energy. (it's actually somewhat sunnier and much windier here in NS). What have they done to encourage this amazing growth despite not having the best of resources? a Feed-in-Tariff. As I've said before, a Feed-in-Tariff requires the utility to pay a guaranteed rate for a particular type of renewable power. In the example in the following story from the G&M about the solar industry, that rate is a whopping 49cent/kWh. Now a similar rate in NS wouldn't be that high, even for solar, because our overall electricity rates are much lower. In Ontario it's 42cents for solar and 11 for wind. With the abundance of wind we have in this province guaranteeing 9cents would work far better than the current lowest-price tendering methods of NS Power. Not only would it encourage more renewable growth, but it would also allow smaller groups and even individuals to participate, unlike only the biggest companies with the deepest pockets under our current system.
Despite all these numbers, the thing that must be taken from this article is the fact that the power to make huge progress in reducing our GHG emissions, and increasing renewable energies, is in the hands of our government. When Premier MacDonald is looking for "specific plans" he doesn't have to reinvent the wheel, he just has to take advise from those who do it best.
Here is the article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070731.IBSOLAR31/TPStory/Business
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