Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $1.5 billion in funding for the ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative to boost Canada’s renewable energy supplies.
ecoENERGY for Renewable Power will invest $1.48 billion to boost Canada’s renewable energy supply through a ten-year incentive program which will fund eligible projects to be constructed over the next four years.
It will also provide $35 million in incentives for renewable thermal technologies for water and space heating and cooling through a second component of the program, ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat.
The investment will create up to 4000 megawatts of renewable energy and is expected to deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions equivalent to taking one million cars off the road, as well as significant reductions in other air pollutants.
The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), views the new program as an effective mechanism that will stimulate the development of new wind energy projects and complement provincial initiatives to procure wind energy. At this time, provincial governments are seeking to put in place a minimum of 10,000 MW of wind energy by 2015. The program will provide eligible wind energy projects with a production incentive payment of 1 cent / kwh in their first 10 years of operation, which means a total of $1.5 billion to renewable energy projects over a 14 year period.
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