Tuesday, July 22, 2003
The Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, P.C. M.P.
Minister of Natural Resources Canada
House of Commons
Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Re: Probe of the Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative
Dear Sir:
I’m proffering help by posing some questions for your probe of the Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative (REDI).
A Globe and Mail article (G&M, “Low number of “green” energy rebates to be probed, 03/07/22, B1) notes that only $3.3 million of the REDI program budget has been rebated to projects, while $14 million was spent on program administration. The Canadian Solar Industries Association suggests more support by reference to John Kennedy’s man on the moon program.
A quick check of the REDI website indicates it provides a 25% rebate to qualifying solar and biomass energy projects. Potential project proponents have apparently done the math and have found projects are not viable at that level of subsidy.
Some simple sober questions come to mind for your probe. Do Canadians really need to pay still more to encourage the uptake of renewable energy? Do they need to pay “man on the moon” costs for it when we have viable sources of lower cost energy at hand to sustain several generations?
Should your probe result in straight and honest answers to these basic questions, we might consider the $17.3 million expenditure on REDI to be a worthwhile wake up call.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast
cc. The Globe and Mail