CanWEA applauds Ontario's groundbreaking Feed-in Tariff Program

OTTAWA , Sept. 24 /CNW/ - The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) today applauded the Ontario Government for the introduction of Ontario's new Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program, the first of its kind in North America . The program sets a fixed price for renewable energy projects.

"This groundbreaking program will encourage an accelerated development and growth of the wind energy industry in Ontario, resulting in new jobs, investment and rural economic renewal," said CanWEA President Robert Hornung .

CanWEA expressed disappointment, however, with respect to the government's approach to setbacks for wind turbines. The association maintains that setbacks for sound should be based on sound, not an arbitrary fixed distance.

"In our opinion, the current Ministry of Environment Sound Guidelines, updated as recently as October 2008 , are more than sufficient to ensure acceptable sound levels," said Mr. Hornung . "In fact, with these existing guidelines, Ontario already had one of the strictest regimes in the world when it comes to setback distances based on acceptable sound levels."

The government also announced fixed targets for domestic content requirements with respect to renewable energy projects.

"Now that domestic content targets have been finalized, we look forward to having an opportunity to review the detailed rules underlying these targets," said Hornung. "We hope to work proactively with the Ontario Government on a range of actions to help support more Ontario based content in the wind energy supply and value chains."

About Canadian Wind Energy Association

CanWEA is the voice of Canada's wind energy industry, actively promoting the responsible and sustainable growth of wind energy on behalf of its more than 450 members. A national non-profit association, CanWEA serves as Canada's leading source of credible information about wind energy and its social, economic and environmental benefits. To join other global leaders in the wind energy industry, CanWEA believes Canada can and must reach its target of producing 20 per cent or more of the country's electricity from wind by 2025. The document Wind Vision 2025 - Powering Canada's Future is available at www.canwea.ca.

For further information: Ulrike Kucera, CanWEA Media Relations Officer, [phone] ext. 228, Mobile: [phone]