OTTAWA, Ontario, CA, 2004-05-12 (Refocus Weekly) The Canadian government will purchase the rights to greenhouse gas emission reductions from Cdn$2.5 million of new or expanding renewable energy projects.
The $15 million Pilot Emission Removals, Reductions & Learnings
Initiative (PERRL) was created to purchase GHG reductions from renewables, as
well as landfill gas, geological storage and biological sequestration. A call
for renewable energy proposals last September produced no submissions that were
successfully validated, and the $2.5 million auction has been re-issued.
The purchase of emission reductions will be made on a fixed-price per tonne
basis, and proponents must construct a new green power facility or increase
capacity of an existing site for the purpose of generating CO2 equivalent
emission reductions. They must also compile data to quantify the emission
reductions generated, obtain third party verification, and transfer the rights
to the federal government.
Emission reductions must be real, measurable, verifiable, surplus, incremental
and sustainable, with a minimum of 5,000 tonnes CO2-e. The maximum paid to any
one party per project will be $1 million, and windfarms which receive funding
from the federal Wind Power Production Incentive will have their combined
incentive limited to 2.5¢/kWh. Review of bids may take four months.
The government says an auction later this year will solicit proposals from
renewables, landfill gas, geological storage and biological sequestration.