Environmentalist Mark Butler is hoping the Dexter government will move to turbo-charge renewable energy generation in the province when it releases its new electrical strategy today.
"We want to see conditions that allow renewable energy to develop and flourish in this province," Butler, a spokesman for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, said Thursday.
"Because, unlike some other provinces, we don’t have lots of our own oil and gas, and eventually that will run out. But we do have abundant wind and water."
The backdrop for Dexter’s announcement will be RMSenergy’s 30-turbine wind farm in Pictou County. It is the only one of six wind farms that Nova Scotia Power signed contracts with two years ago that met the deadline to supply renewable energy to the utility by late 2009.
The other projects have been delayed by the bad credit markets or were unable to get off the ground.
To kick-start the industry, Butler said the premier may announce the establishment of "feed-in tariffs," which would set a standard price for renewable energy producers and boost the amount of renewable power in the utilities’ energy mix.
"It provides the right atmosphere for investment and certain guarantee return on renewable energy," said Butler.
"It’s a way to get your industry started."
The idea of adopting "feed-in tariffs" was one of 25 recommendations recently made to the Dexter government by Dalhousie University professors David Wheeler and Michelle Adams in a report for a new Renewable Energy Strategy for Nova Scotia.
Butler said the government may also announce new renewable targets as outlined in the Wheeler-Adams report, which suggested that 40 per cent of energy come from renewable sources by 2020.
Under current regulations Nova Scotia Power must get 25 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2015.
Nova Scotia Power currently generates 10 to 12 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, hydro and tidal.
Butler said he wonders if Dexter will attempt to break-up Nova Scotia Power’s monopoly and allow renewable energy producers to sell at the retail level.
"That’s something we would be interested in seeing over time," he.
One of the most controversial recommendations from the Wheeler-Adams report is the use of biomass as part of the province’s energy mix.
"We hope the strategy does not recognize biomass or large scale biomass, or biomass for electricity as suitable for the feed-in tariffs. Our interest is in seeing wind developed and energy efficiency," said Butler.
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