IPSP Comments
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) announced on 2007 Oct 31 that it wants comments about the Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP) recently released by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA).
The OEB has to review the IPSP to make sure that it will accomplish what the Ontario Minister of Energy asked for, at a reasonable cost.
How does one conduct such a review? Well, you make a list of the specific items that the Minister requested, and then look at the sections of the IPSP that address each item. If the plan is adequate in each case the review concludes by giving OEB approval. This approach is reasonable because it is not open ended - the review is finished when all the items on the list have been looked at. But for this approach to be credible the original list of issues has to be complete. So the OEB is starting out by asking the public to review its list of issues and suggest additional items if they are needed.
If you want to be involved you need to read the IPSP, read the preliminary list of issues proposed, and send your comments to the OEB.
The deadline is nicely defined by the OEB:
I'm guessing that comments should be at the OEB before 2007 Nov 30. You can use this form for your submission.
My difficulty with this process is that I think the original request from the Minister was unrealistic. I stated this in a previous post - Comments about the Supply Mix Advice Report. So I think the IPSP should be a short document that contains one word - "Impossible!". Instead it is a detailed list of things to do that launches us into a world of wishful thinking and soon to be dashed hopes. I have tried to warn people that this adventure will be painful. It seems that only hard knocks will teach Ontarians how to manage their electrical resources. They should be building more nuclear power plants, but instead they are pinning their hopes on windmills.
The trouble with missed opportunities is that they don't show up in history as clear alternatives. All we see is the misery of what actually happened. If it did not have to be that way that is never documented. Ontario is setting out on a hard journey that it does not need to suffer through. Oh well ....
The OEB has to review the IPSP to make sure that it will accomplish what the Ontario Minister of Energy asked for, at a reasonable cost.
How does one conduct such a review? Well, you make a list of the specific items that the Minister requested, and then look at the sections of the IPSP that address each item. If the plan is adequate in each case the review concludes by giving OEB approval. This approach is reasonable because it is not open ended - the review is finished when all the items on the list have been looked at. But for this approach to be credible the original list of issues has to be complete. So the OEB is starting out by asking the public to review its list of issues and suggest additional items if they are needed.
If you want to be involved you need to read the IPSP, read the preliminary list of issues proposed, and send your comments to the OEB.
The deadline is nicely defined by the OEB:
Parties wishing to comment on the proposed issues list must provide their comments in writing to the Board within 30 days of the last date of publication of the notice.
I'm guessing that comments should be at the OEB before 2007 Nov 30. You can use this form for your submission.
My difficulty with this process is that I think the original request from the Minister was unrealistic. I stated this in a previous post - Comments about the Supply Mix Advice Report. So I think the IPSP should be a short document that contains one word - "Impossible!". Instead it is a detailed list of things to do that launches us into a world of wishful thinking and soon to be dashed hopes. I have tried to warn people that this adventure will be painful. It seems that only hard knocks will teach Ontarians how to manage their electrical resources. They should be building more nuclear power plants, but instead they are pinning their hopes on windmills.
The trouble with missed opportunities is that they don't show up in history as clear alternatives. All we see is the misery of what actually happened. If it did not have to be that way that is never documented. Ontario is setting out on a hard journey that it does not need to suffer through. Oh well ....
1 Comments:
Many concerned individuals participated in the public consultation for the IPSP, however, I now feel that it was an exercise in futility. Despite the logical arguments against the push for wind energy to replace coal, the Ontario government is ignoring hard science and pushing its environmental agenda forward with the Green Energy Act. This legislation will give the Minister of Energy sweeping powers to define the energy supply plan for the province. It is disconcerting that a person with no background in power generation will have that much influence over somehing as important as energy.
By
lad, at 09 April, 2009 20:50
Post a Comment
<< Home