Nova Scotia's new energy implementation act murky on solar

New solar projects will not be encouraged under the Electricity Plan Implementation Act passed by the governing Liberalsthis fall, according to a provincial spokesperson.

The province says the act is designed to stabilize electricity prices, andthat too many renewable projects have added 30 per cent to the cost of power over the last half-dozen years.

"The system doesn't need a whole lot more intermittent renewable energy at this point," said Bruce Cameron, the executive director for renewables and efficiency with the Nova Scotia Department of Energy.

Nova Scotia has hit its 2015 target to produce 25 per cent of electricity from renewable sources and is on track to meet or exceed 40 percent in five years time.

But with risingglobal concern about the pace of climate change, environmentalists argue now is the time legislation should provide an incentive to develop more solar power.

'We need to take the next step'

"We are doing well at reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and we need to take the next step," says Wayne Groszky, the renewable energy co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre.

"And this legislation doesn't take any steps in this direction. It says, 'Let's wait three years before we start.'"

Although there are hundreds of Nova Scotians using solar energy to power their own homes and live "off grid,"less than one megawatt of solar electricity is sold to the provincial grid. As a fuel, solar presently accounts for well below one per cent of Nova Scotia Power's energy mix.

One reason is thatalthough the cost of solar panels and installation is dropping, it is still more to produce electricity from the sun than what Nova Scotia Power pays to buy surplus power through its net-metering program.

In August, Premier Stephen McNeil's government discontinued the community feed-in tariff program that offered higher prices for renewable energy including wind, hydro, solarand biomass to help get the province off coal and encourage smaller scale, independent producers.

Nova Scotia's Department of Energy says the province doesn't need solar power right now because it is on track to exceed renewable energy goals.

"You and I, as consumers, would have to pay more to encourage it. We are in a process of learning [about] rather than encouraging solar power," said Cameron.

No taxpayer money for new solar program

With education in mind, the Energy Department is planning to launch a new community solar program next year. Itwould provide non-profit groups, municipalities and First Nations an opportunity to install arrays of solar panels on local buildings such as fire stations, town halls, churches, recreation centres, farmers' marketsand arenas.

No taxpayer dollars will be used for the program, so in order toqualify,groupsmust compete on price to supply solar energy to Nova Scotia Power.

"The expectation is that these community groups will be able to pay for these projects with what they propose to earn from selling the electricity," said Groszko.

"It will be a competitive bidding process and the government will have a third-party agency choose which projects go ahead. Those projects will get a 20-year contract to sell their solar-generated electricity to Nova ScotiaPower."

Groszky calls the program "encouraging" and thinks it has the potential to boost solar energy development more quickly provided the process isn't too complicated.

Cameron says there's no justification for ratepayers paying a premium price for electricity to develop solar technology today when it will continue to improve and become a larger part of the province's energy mix within 10 years.