The below article is a great example of forward thinking governments receiving a payback after 10 years from their initial investment. Alberta companies have landed large contracts on the other side of North America because the investment in wind and water power research was made. If a government wants to diversify their economy, they must look beyond 1 or 2 years, and build the right environment for advances in technology.
The one thing that is missing from this is the small business and home owner who could be using their property to add a small amount of energy into the grid. Not everything project has to be a mega-project.
Do you have any examples of a short or long term payback in the alternative energy field in your backyard?
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Alberta firms, including Edmonton’s Epcor, emerged as renewable energy leaders when winning bids were announced Monday for new Ontario wind and water power projects.
“You’ll see more of Epcor,” company president Don Lowry vowed in an interview.
The city-owned utility aims to depart from its history in coal-fired power stations by doing 13 per cent of its generation with greener alternatives within five to 10 years, he said.
A $300-million expansion of Epcor’s Kingsbridge wind-turbine farm on the breezy east shore of Lake Huron is among $2 billion in renewable energy projects that won new contracts to hook up to the Ontario grid.
Four Alberta companies will build seven of nine projects in the new generation lineup and account for 80 per cent of the total 975 megawatss in water and wind driven additions to Ontario suppplies - enough electricity for 250,000 homes.
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