Federal government entices industry to use biomass and solar energy

The federal government has expanded the eligibility conditions for its renewable energy subsidy program known as REDI to encourage more industrial organizations to adopt green energies.
REDI is the Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative run by Natural Resources Canada. It provides incentives to private industry to use solar thermal and biomass combustion energy systems. In November, Natural Resources announced that the REDI incentives can now be used for process heat applications in industry as well. Previously the program excluded such industrial processes that qualified for CCA Class 43.1 since they were able to have an accelerated tax write-off.
In addition the REDI program is embarking on a pilot project to attract new suppliers willing to provide solar energy with no up-front cost to the energy end user. The program will support emerging solar utilities by offsetting the start up costs. The program will be based on the number of gigajoules (GJ) of delivered energy.
In making the announcement, Jeff Knapp, an industry officer with Natural Resources Canada said: “These changes will have a great impact on the industry and will allow REDI to penetrate the industrial marketplace…. Over the last year and a half, industry leaders would ask, ‘What do you have that could give us a payback within three years? With these changes in place, I now have the tools to give industry the economic solutions they are looking for.”
REDI gives eligible corporations a refund of 25% of the costs of developing, purchasing and installing a qualifying system. The maximum refund is $80,000 per application and $250,000 per corporation for multiple installations.
In another federal initiative to reduce greenhouse gases, Environment Canada called for new proposals under its PERRL program. The PERRL Initiative stands for Pilot Emissions Removals, Reductions and Learnings. It is now offering $5 million for technologies that capture or remove greenhouse gas emissions in the forestry, renewable energy and landfill gas sectors, and it also covers the capture of carbon dioxide in geological storage areas. The government purchases the greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals from qualified projects on a lowest cost-per-tonne basis. The projects are selected through a competitive bidding process, with the current round closing on February 3, 2005 via the MERX electronic tendering service.
For more information on REDI, contact Jeff Knapp at 613-996-8632, or visit www.nrcan.gc.ca/redi
For more information on PERRL visit www.ec.gc.ca/PERRL