ERO# 019-3471 I…

ERO# 019-3471

I wholeheartedly support the move to repeal sections of the Electricity Act, 1998 and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 that were introduced under the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 to promote and prioritize the development of renewable energy. Ontario has a clean carbon emissions free energy system. Wind and solar back up needs create carbon emissions – these are not clean energy sources.
Although no regulation governing priority access may have been written, priority access to the grid was indeed the IESO practice for any electricity generated from renewable energy and in particular wind and solar.
Eliminating priority dispatch will reduce “negative prices” - where more energy is produced than can be sold. Our electricity system costs escalate in proportion to intermittent and unreliable energy generators like wind and solar because in giving them priority access, whenever the wind and sun are unavailable, back-up generating costs soar. And whenever the wind blows and the sun shines, excess electricity causes our other clean energy generators like nuclear and hydro to be spilled. Either way, ratepayers pay the price. Because of wind and solar power variability, their contribution to the energy supply rarely corresponds with peak demand. Both massive output and nil output create major problems in maintaining the stability, reliability, and economic viability of the whole system. Priority access is the major cause of these ongoing and escalating distortions in price, reliability, and quality of service.
I support the repeal of all the legislation listed and particularly applaud ending renewable energy priority access to the grid. We need to restore a level playing field for all energy producers. Doing so will inject needed value for consumers and ultimately ensure a real clean energy mix .