Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said Tuesday an Ontario Energy Board decision on an application for a new hydro line and station in Essex County could be made within two to three weeks. “We’re in the process of trying to get approval for the new transmission facility,” Chiarelli said following a news conference to tout the province’s energy savings programs for industrial users, such as greenhouse growers. “We’re trying to do some catch-up in terms of the explosion and expansion of the greenhouse sector.”
The application for a new hydro line was launched about 15 months ago and has to be approved by the Ontario Energy Board, added Chiarelli. “There have to be public hearings and costs have to be justified.”
Chiarelli’s announcement was welcomed by Essex County Warden Tom Bain who said the new hydro line is key to the greenhouse sector’s expansion. “It’s extremely important,” said Bain. “We’ve seen already a couple of our growers move to the United States, and the reason they moved to the United States was they could not get the electrical power to run their greenhouses. And now with the new move of operating 12 months a year, hydro power is so much more important.”
Minister Bob Chiarelli said that several local greenhouse growers had been awarded contracts to two electricity programs by the Independent Electricity System Operator. Chiarelli said awarding these types of programs help make Ontario more competitive globally.
“By taking advantage of the programs offered by Ontario’s Ministry of Energy, these local firms are better positioned to compete in the global marketplace,” said Chiarelli. “They are able to retain and create local jobs and support quality of life in Windsor-Essex.”
The Industrial Electricity Incentive program, awarded to Amco Farms in Leamington, helps agricultural operations by providing a reduction in price until 2024, provided they expand their existing production facilities.
The second program, the Combined Heat and Power Standard Offer Program, was awarded to Cervini Farms, C.L. Solutions, Brunato Farms and Cedarline Greenhouses. The program provides gas-fired electricity generating facilities to produce power they can sell back to the grid, while using the excess heat generated to warm greenhouses and carbon dioxide emissions can be used by plants as energy.
Greg Devries, an owner of Cedarline Greenhouses in Chatham-Kent, said while they’re happy with the CHPSOP contract, they want to see the generators eventually used in other ways.
“What we’d like to see in the future is the opportunity to use those same co-generation units to use our own electricity, to produce our own electricity and power lights for night-time use,” said Devries.
