City staff suggested stopping the installation of solar panels and wind turbines for a while
The city council of Ottawa has agreed with a recommendation from city staff to stop installing new solar, wind, and bioenergy production facilities for now, while the city figures out how to best zone the projects.
Mitchell LeSage, a city planner, told members of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, “It’s mostly just making sure that we do everything in the right way and in the right order, and that we save agricultural lands.”
- A project to build batteries in the Napanee area would power 250,000 homes.
- As a shortage of electricity looms, Ontario is putting a lot of money into energy storage.
Right now, there are no rules about where these buildings can be built in the city.
Staff said this was a temporary fix, but some environmentalists said they were surprised by the temporary ban, which they think was put in place for no good reason.
No applications are being held up by a decision
A motion from Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown in February started the review of facilities that use renewable energy and batteries to store energy.
He said that building solar farms or anaerobic digestion technology, which turns feces into energy, could help the city meet its climate change goals and improve the reliability of rural power supply, “so we’re not tied to long transmission lines that run for hundreds of kilometers.”
But he said that this kind of growth needs to be done in a responsible way.
“We want to make sure our farmland is safe. Brown said, “It’s always better and more appealing to have locally grown food and goods instead of having to import them.”
Brown didn’t see any reason to wait since this week’s decision wouldn’t affect any current applications.
Angela Keller-Herzog, the executive director of Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability Ottawa, told councillors that she was relieved to hear that the move wouldn’t stop any work. Members of her group had feared the worst, so they were glad to hear that nothing would be put on hold.
Energy networks’ future stability is talked about
The staff report presented this week also moved to limit the size of batteries used to store renewable energy on agricultural land to two percent of the total lot size, up to a maximum of one hectare.
The Independent Electricity System Operator, which is in charge of Ontario’s grid, is moving in this direction to make it more stable. They are starting with a battery project in the Napanee area that can power 250,000 homes.
At the same meeting in Ottawa where Brown asked staff to look into new rules, council agreed to back a project on Upper Dwyer Hill Road.
Keller-Herzog said that managing the risks of climate change will be easier if renewable energy could be stored in a reliable way.
“When the power goes out because of hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, or anything else, how can we store energy so that your kids can still do their homework?” she asked council members. “We need to have backup power.”
The city has hired a consultant to look at the zoning rules in other cities. This summer, the consultant will talk to energy producers, environmentalists, and residents, and in the fall, the consultant will present a plan to the city council.