Live Small and Prosper Pt 1: The more solar projects the better

Don’t ask me how it works (I don’t have a mind for business and I can prove it), but the more widgets you sell, the more efficiencies you develop (don’t even ask me what an ‘efficiency’ is), the cheaper you can sell an individual widget, and that’s a good thing, especially for those who what to add to their collection of cheap widgets.

They’d likely even be cheaper by the dozen. (I think that’s why the ‘baker’s dozen’ was invented years ago by a guy who baked more buns than he could eat in a week).

The above sounds good in theory but looks even better in practice.

And that’s likely why the Ontario government offers solar- and wind-energy producers a really good price (50 - 80 cents) for 20-year contracts for every kilowatt-hour they produce for the province’s electric-power grid.


["The sun works for me": link to photo]

And where do the widgets and magic theory (sell more, it gets cheaper) come in, as far as Ontario is concerned?

Here: The more solar projects on the books, the more jobs are created, the cleaner the energy, the better for future generations.

There’s more to it than that, of course.

Recurrent Energy, a California-based company, has 19 solar projects on their books for Ontario that are expected to produce about 150 megawatts of solar power, enough to power 21,000 homes.

By receiving 50 - 80 cents per kwh, Recurrent may turn a good profit after expenses.

Too good? I’ll let the business minds figure that one out. But our hydro rates will likely be affected (we pay less than 10 cents per kwh for juice at the moment, but if the province is paying 50 - 80 cents to produce it, someone will have to pay for the difference.

My thought: Ontarians will soon pay more for energy in order to establish green-energy production for future generations to use. Future generations may even pay a more reasonable price for hydro than the present one after the 20-year contracts have expired.

How do I feel about that?

Not bad, actually. The present generation is passing on a lot of debt (record amounts right now both provincially and nationally) so our grandchildren ought to have their hands full with the financial mess we’re leaving them - along with a lot more messes I must say.

There’s more to it than that too, of course.

Stay tuned.

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I don’t mind turbines. They work for me.

I don’t mind solar panels and higher energy bills. (It’s a matter of fairness, I suppose).

Have I had too much sun?

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