The federal energy department in Canada has committed to double the national capacity of green power by 2010, according to a strategy tabled in Parliament.

OTTAWA, Ontario: The federal energy department in Canada has committed to double the national capacity of green power by 2010, according to a strategy tabled in Parliament.

Sources of renewable power include wind, solar PV, small hydro and biomass, but will exclude large hydroelectric facilities, says the Canadian Association for Renewable Energies. The commitment is contained in the Sustainable Development Strategy produced by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan); most federal departments are required to file SDS commitments every three years.

By 2010, NRCan also commits to reduce GHG emissions per kilometre from its department vehicle fleet by 15% compared with 2002-2003 levels and, by 2007, to purchase ethanol-blended gasoline for its road vehicles. The strategy sets no targets for green heat applications.

"At least this SDS is more promising than the last forecast from NRCan," says Bill Eggertson of C.A.R.E. In 2002, the North American Energy Working Group forecast that generation output from non-hydro renewables in Canada would drop from 6 TWh in 1999 to 2 TWh by 2010. See http://renewables.ca/atip.html.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy said large hydro capacity in Canada was 66,000 MW in 2005, while coal was 16,000 MW, nuclear 12,000 MW, oil was 5,000 MW, natural gas 5,000 MW, and non-hydro green power had 2,000 MW of capacity across the country.

"We have long-criticized the government's lack of targets for renewables, so this is a refreshing change," adds Eggertson. "However, the last SDS contained targets that were ignored, and this strategy again omits the contribution from off-grid green power and all green heat options."

In NRCan's 2004 SDS, it promised to install 1,000 solar thermal and biomass heating systems on commercial / institutional facilities, and 25,000 ground source heat pumps on non-residential buildings by 2008. In the latter, the industry association complained that the target was impossible to obtain without federal support, and NRCan's last progress report (March 2006) omits any mention of the status for those technologies.


For further information, contact:
Bill Eggertson
canadian association for renewable energies (we c.a.r.e.)
eggertson@renewables.ca
613-222-6920