Solar Fraud in the News

The Ottawa Citizen’s Tom Spears has a long record of carefully and insightfully reporting on the risk of solar fraud in Ontario. Here is a note on a previous example of his work. I presented a short commentary on the risk to Ontario ratepayers of solar fraud in July 2010 here.  My main points were …

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Ontario Government Refuses Request for Information on Solar Fraud

Here is an investigation from Tom Spears at the Ottawa Citizen into what the Ontario government is doing to protect consumers from solar fraud. The government refuses to explain the measures it is taking, claiming that the government’s financial interests would be harmed by any disclosure. Post Script: In case the link fails, the article …

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Commentary on Ontario’s FIT Contracts Announced Feb. 24/2010

The Ontario government announced here that it has entered into 40 new Feed-In Tariff contracts to procure another 872 MW of renewable power, primarily from wind and solar generators.  The generators know that McGuinty’s green energy days are numbered. The generators are racing to get their contracts in place before the government changes its …

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Ontario Power Agencies Failing Consumers: Examining the IESO

Institutional reform is needed in Ontario’s electricity sector so that key public agencies can properly perform their duties serving consumers while balancing the needs of producers. This essay argues that the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) belongs on the list of key agencies whose inappropriately cozy relationship with government is harming consumers.

Protecting Ontario Ratepayers from Solar Fraud

Notwithstanding the McGuinty government’s recent retrenchment on one of the government’s more egregiously profligate solar power subsidy schemes, the remaining solar Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program rewards solar producers with prices so much higher than any measure of the value of electricity produced that the program remains vulnerable to fraud. With many thousands of installations and …

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Update on Solar Gold Rush

The National Post has carried a story July 7, 2010 indicating that a dim light is starting to glow in the mind of the McGuinty government  that some of their Green Energy Act ideas were actually insane and profoundly damaging to Ontario. Ontario government officials and agencies, together with the interest groups feeding off the …

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Solar Gold Rush?

Crashing prices for solar PV panels create the prospect for a solar PV gold rush when Ontario’s Feed-In Tariff (FIT) opens for applications from developers October 1st. Some reports indicate that the price of PV systems has crashed by 32%-42% so far this year. (ref: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/09/module-pricing-rational-or-just-plain-nuts?cmpid=WNL-Friday-September25-2009) Factors contributing to the fall in prices include burgeoning …

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