Creating Opportunities Consultations Report

Adding Value in Rural and Northern Manitoba

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunities in alternative energy production were heard consistently throughout the consultations:

There were wide variety of energy opportunities in the province, from rendering animal fat and turning canola into biodiesel in Gladstone to biomass and pellet opportunities in Morden. Many Manitobans are interested in turning our energy advantages into opportunities for their communities. Agricultural producers are especially affected by opportunities
that rely on converting agricultural products into energy, or by projects such as wind farms that require large areas
of land.

Manitobans were supportive of existing provincial initiatives to promote alternative energy and harness energy from wind, ethanol and bio-diesel and conservation programs such as Manitoba Hydro’s Power Smart program. They also indicated there is more governments, communities and industry can do to realize the advantages of using Manitoba’s resources to produce alternative energy.

The Creating Opportunities Committee toured the St. Leon’s wind farm and saw the potential for revenue creation for rural communities as well as individual landowners. St. Leon receives annual funds from the wind farm corporation that operates in the area. This money is used for local and regional economic development projects. There also has been an increase in tourism as people are drawn to visit this unique project.

CHALLENGES

• Financial – Participants spoke about their need for equity financing to develop the infrastructure needed
  for bio-diesel projects, wind development and other opportunities. This is because high-capital ventures
  often exceed the investment capacity of local residents.

• Human Resources – There is a lack of skilled available fore current alternative energy projects, which could hamper the communities’ efforts to develop future projects. Communities want more local training and apprenticeship, to ensure projects can be serviced.

• Community Capacity – Participants indicated they felt the ability of communities to develop bio-energy opportunities is often affected by demographics such as aging and decreasing populations. Local projects can be hampered by a lack of local leadership, vision, confidence, or teamwork. Communities across Manitoba are struggling to find ways to promote local co-operation and work together with other communities to address these problems on regional levels.

• Infrastructure – Some alternative energy production industries may need expansion of their existing infrastructure, such as upgrades to roadways, to accommodate heavy trucks.

• Regulations – There is a need for more regulations in some areas such as composting and burning of specific risk materials (SRMs). There’s also a need to examine outdated regulations that may unnecessarily restrict alternative energy development. Some participants felt that local producers of electricity should be allowed to connect to the existing electrical grid and enter into a standard price contract to sell electricity to Manitoba Hydro.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Communities, governments and industry should work together to:

• Develop policies that would simplify and encourage the participation, development and ownership of alternative energy production by agricultural producers and communities (Ex: wind, biogas, and bio-diesel).

• Investigate capital support and/or tax credits to encourage participation in bio-energy development.

• Create a research fund to explore new alternative energy production in the areas of gasification, wind, biogas, etc.
  • Strengthen the identification of labour/skills requirements, human resource planning and business development planning to meet rural human resource priorities in the alternative energy sector.

• Work with Manitoba Hydro to be proactive in developing alternative energy opportunities that benefit rural and northern economies.

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