Trillium Power Wind 1

Project description

On May 19, 2011 Trillium Power Wind Corporation gave notice to the McGuinty Government that if its targeted action against Trillium Power was not corrected it would initiate an action suing the Government of Ontario for 2.25 Billion dollars. No correction was made as requested. Therefore, on September 28, 2011, Trillium Power Wind Corporation filed its claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and was assigned the court file # CV-11-436012. While the legal claim was initiated against the government of Dalton McGuinty, Trillium Power has continuously stated in the media that it does not hold Premier Wynne responsible for creating the cause of the litigation. Instead, Trillium Power has stated that litigation was the last option and was only taken when the McGuinty government would not even meet or discuss options to correct their targeted action to harm Trillium Power. Trillium Power has always sought solutions that are in the long-term benefit of all Ontarians, the environment and the economy.

The TPW1 far-offshore wind site is acknowledged as the premier site in North America and especially The Great Lakes. The TPW1 site is located in northeastern Lake Ontario, approximately 38 km southwest of Kingston, Ontario SW on the shoals of Main Duck Island. The project, as currently planned, will consist of approximately 90 to 100 either 5.0 MW or 6.0 far-offshore turbines and two offshore substations linked to the Lennox Transmission Station by way of an underwater cable. The total project cost is estimated at $1.5 billion CDN of private capital with no cost to taxpayers.

The wind farm will produce between 450 and 500 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity with a net capacity factor of 43%, which is equivalent to the amount of power consumed by a minimum of 130,000 typical Ontario households. TPW1 will offset at least 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions from coal-fired generation and 931,745 tonnes of CO2 emissions from natural gas generation every year. All power generated by the project will be sold to the Ontario Power Authority under a 20-year minimum Power Purchase Agreement. Under Ontario's Green Energy and Green Economy Act adopted in May 2009, offshore wind facilities of any size will receive a 19¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) Feed-in tariff.

Key attributes

Approvals process and current status

Trillium Power is currently undergoing Ontario's Renewable Energy Approval process. As of the date of the targeted acton against Trillium Power by the McGuinty government on February 11, 2011, Trillium Power had completed 105 studies, reports and regulatory actions including, but not limited to: avian, aquatic, geophysical, ice, wave, navigation, noise, etc. The first round of public consultations were held in Napanee, Ontario, Picton, Ontario and Cape Vincent, New York in early July, 2010.

The TPW1 site is located on provincial Crown Land secured through Ontario's Windpower Site Release and Development Program via an embedded Land Use Permit (LUP).

All offshore wind power projects were abruptly cancelled/suspended by the Ontario government, due to a targeted action by senior members of the McGuinty Government on February 2011 to harm Trillium Power's imminent closing of a $26 million tranche of equity financing on February 11, 2011 at 3:00pm. The Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights Registry notice of February 11, 2011 specifically states "Going forward, members of the public and all interested parties will have an opportunity to review and comment through the Environmental Registry on proposed technical, environmental and other requirements as they are developed . It is anticipated that once offshore wind-specific requirements are fully developed they would be included in regulation, policy and guidelines", showing that this was a targeted action against Trillium Power and not a policy decision that was supposed to be developed at a later date.

The claim by Trillium Power vs. Ontario was initially struck down by a motions judge and was then appealed to Ontario's highest court - the Ontario Court of Appeal. The Appeal was heard on March 22, 2013. On November 12, 2013 the 3 judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal rendered their decision whereby they found Trillium Power's case could proceed on the claim of misfeasance in public office. On February 28, 2014 the Ontario Government filed a Statement of Defense after nearly 3 years of delay.

Additional projects

TPW1 is the first of Trillium Power's four unique offshore wind developments in the Great Lakes. Trillium Power's additional sites include: Trillium Power Wind 2, The Great Lakes Array and The Superior Array.