According to a CBC report in the spring of 2012 WindTronics announced that after two years in operation in Windsor, Ontario, the company was leaving town.
“The province gave the company $2.7 million to open in Windsor — under one condition. The company promised there would be 200 workers in the plant by the end of this year. That is now very unlikely,” said the CBC.
The company’s manager, Reg Adams, blamed the province for not providing a feed-in tariff of $0.55/kWh that he claims he was promised, according to the CBC.
At the time the province was paying $0.13/kWh for wind energy whether from small or large wind turbines.
Having worked in Ontario during the period in question, it is highly unlikely that the province “promised” any such thing. Renewable advocates may have proposed such a tariff, but that’s a far cry from having the government say they would pay it. The government seldom listened to advocates and adopted policy based on its own calculus.
Adams may have been referring to payments under the feed-in tariff program for solar energy. Adams was extremely naïve, disingenuous, or simply trying to cover very poor judgment by blaming the province for his company’s failure.
The tariff for solar was, after all, for solar, not for wind. It just doesn’t get any clearer than that.
