Canadian Energy Law : Lawyers & Attorneys for Environmental Energy Law

Amendments to the Renewable Fuels Regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act will set a coming-into force date of July 1, 2011 for the requirement that diesel fuel and heating distillate oil contain on average 2% renewable fuel by volume.

As we reported earlier here, this requirement will only apply to primary suppliers who produce or import more than 400 cubic meters of diesel fuel and/or heating distillate oil per year.

The amendments will provide a permanent exemption for diesel fuel and heating distillate oil sold in or delivered to Newfoundland and Labrador to account for logistical challenges in blending biodiesel in that region.  As well, temporary exemptions will be provided until December 31, 2012 for diesel fuel and heating distillate oil sold in or delivered to Quebec south of 60 degrees North, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, giving time to refiners to install biodiesel blending infrastructure.

Canada's Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent, stated that the renewable fuel content requirements will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately four megatonnes per year.

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The Ontario Power Authority has been directed to enter an agreement to purchase biomass power that will be produced at the Ontario Power Generation’s Atikokan station starting in 2012.

This development is part of the OPA’s 20-year plan that began in 2007, and proposed that the province phase-out coal-based electricity by 2014 and invest approximately $14.6 billion in renewable energy sources. Pursuant to Ontario Environmental Protection Act regulations made under the OPA plan, the Atikokan station is one of several coal facilities that will cease coal-fired steam electricity generation. 

However, unlike the Lambton and Nanticoke stations that will be permanently decommissioned, OPG will convert the Atikokan station to use wood pellets as a biomass fuel source.

Frank Chiarotto, OPG’s Senior Vice-President (Thermal), acknowledged the benefit to the community by converting the Atikokan station, as opposed to shutting its doors.

Atikokan can provide Ontario with a new source of renewable energy and Northwestern Ontario with economic benefits for years to come ... This is good news for OPG, Northwestern Ontario and the province.

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Lewis Smith

On June 4, 2010, the National Research Council announced a pilot project to develop a 50,000 litre cultivation plant to study the production of biofuels from algae. The plant is to be constructed at the NRC’s Marine Research Station in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia, where researchers have been growing algae for more than 50 years. The NRC’s algal biofuel initiative is notable for its use of local algae strains. These are expected to be easier to grow, since they are already adapted to the environment, and their use avoids the risks of unintended releases of foreign strains of algae.

Approximately $5 million was provided for the project by the Canadian federal government. The NRC is working on the development of algal biofuels with the United States Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, as well as a Canadian private sector partner Carbon2Algae Solutions Inc. Carbon2Algae’s longer-term plan is to produce biofuels using algal bioreactors fed in part by carbon dioxide generated by emitters such as the Albertan oil sands and coal-fired electrical generating stations. 

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