1 Economic Advantages of Community Power Khlaire Parré, MA, PMP Ontario Sustainable Energy Association

2 Member-based non-profit – Represents > 75 community organizations involved in developing green power projects Represented interests: – Community co-ops and non-profits – Municipalities – Farmers and rural land owners – First Nations – Locally owned projects (developers, suppliers, installers)

3 What is Community Power? Locally owned (wholly or substantially) Renewable Energy generation projects Optimizes local benefits (social, economic and environmental) Commercial-scale (enough energy to sell back to the grid) Accessible, open participation Democratically controlled (1 vote/person) Financially viable (positive Rate of Return)

4 Economic Benefits of Community Power Community Power is a proven economic model – Stabilizes long term energy prices – Creates jobs – Contributes to a culture of energy conservation (U.S. Research Project - Iowa Policy Project)

5 Local Community Benefits Locally Owned Community Power Projects: – Generate 5-10 times the local benefits than the traditional, centralized energy generation model (Iowa Policy Project ) Traditional, centralized energy generation model – cents of every dollar spent on energy leaves the local economy (U.S. Dept. of Energy, Rocky Mountain Institute)

6 An Emerging Economic Development Opportunity Operation of wind turbines employs more people than the traditional energy model: – 27% more jobs than coal plants – 66% more jobs than natural gas plants (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority)

7 Jobs: Germany Generates $240 billion in annual revenue Germany’s Renewable Energy sector employs 250,000 people Germany is expected to provide more green jobs than the U.S. auto industry employs by 2020 (United Nations Energy Partnership and Germany’s Federal Minister of the Environment)

8 Jobs: Denmark World market leader for wind turbine manufacturing – Produce > ½ of the world’s wind turbines – Export rate of 90% Generate $7 billion annually – Defined by World Bank as a “high income economy” – Ninth in ‘Quality of Life’ Index (U.S. = 13 th, Canada = 14 th ) Employ 20,000 people in Renewable Energy sector – with a population of < NYC

9 Jobs: Global Market Global Renewable Energy (RE) sector employs 2.3 million people 300,000 employed in wind power 170,000 in solar PV (photovoltaic/energy generating) 600,000 in solar thermal 1.2 million are employed in biomass – Brazil, U.S., Germany and China 2030 Global RE employment projection – 2.1 million jobs in wind – 6.3 million jobs in solar (Worldwatch Institute and United Nations Energy Partnership)

10 Communities Drive Renewable Energy 10 Community-Owned Wind Turbines in Europe FarmerCommunityCorporate Germany10%40%50% Denmark64%24%12% Netherlands60%5%35% Spain0% 100% Great Britain1% 98% Minnesota31%69% Ontario <1%>99% Source: NL,D,DK,ES,GB: Dave Toke, University of Birmingham, 2005, updated to Toke 2008 Source: Minnesota: Windustry, 2008 Source: Ontario: OSEA, 2008

11 Economic Development Potential for Canada Wind energy projects create new jobs in manufacturing, transportation and construction Industry Canada states that by ,000 green jobs $10 Billion in revenues

12 Economic Development Potential for Ontario Current state of the industry in Ontario: Turbine tower (Exhibition Place) was made in Ajax New solar/silicon manufacturing plant in Vaughan Most of the employees are former auto workers Land Leasing ($2-5K/yr/turbine) Community Power - Local Renewable Energy project ownership: First Nations Co-operatives Local land owners

Economic Development Potential for Ontario Ontario’s Potential Renewable Energy 30,000 MW Offshore Wind 25,000 MW Onshore Wind 5,000 MW Medium/Micro Hydro 5,000 MW Small Hydro, Solar, Biogas TOTAL Potential: 65,000 Megawatts With a comparable wind resource to Ontario, Germany already has 31,000 MW of installed capacity

14 Summary Renewable Energy creates a strong case for economic development – Canada’s potential by ,000 jobs $10 billion in revenue – Ontario’s potential 65,000 megawatts Economic benefits can be kept locally through Community Power projects…. Ask OSEA how to get started !

15 Thank you For more information contact: Khlaire Parré, MA, PMP Ontario Sustainable Energy Association x 25