Canadian developer Trillium Power has filed an appeal against a ruling last month by an Ontario court that struck out its
C$2.25bn ($2.26bn) lawsuit against the provincial government over a moratorium on Great Lakes offshore wind development.
Trillium’s appeal cites “errors in points of law and evidence” in the ruling by Justice Robert Goldstein,
who decreed that former Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government did not act illegaly in taking its decision.
It was, Goldstein wrote, “empowered to set or alter policy with regard to wind power".
Trillium in its lawsuit had argued that the February 2011 decision to freeze offshore development in the lakes was based on political considerations tied to
McGuinty’s ultimately successful reelection campaign of October last year. McGuinty stepped down last month, although the minority Liberals remain in power.
At the time, the ruling Liberals were running relatively poorly in certain shoreline communities along Lake Erie that oppose
offshore wind.
The government denied the charge, saying new environmental studies were needed as there was little experience globally
with placing wind turbines in freshwater lakes. It also says any move to allow offshore wind development needed to be coordinated
with the US, as the lakes form part of their border.
Trillium, based in Toronto, had been planning a Lake Ontario wind farm up to 600MW between 17km and 28km offshore of Kingston.
The developer claims the province’s decision derailed a C$26m financing deal for the project set to close two days
later. It says the government did not give it prior notice. It had four other offshore wind projects on the drawing boards.
Chief executive John Kourtoff did not immediately return a request from Recharge seeking comment on the company’s
future legal strategy.
Kourtoff earlier said the damages sought would cover money Trillium has spent on project proposals in Lake Ontario, and
lost potential revenue that would have been obtained through a long-term power supply contract under the Ontario feed-in tariff
(FIT) programme.
Trillium did not have such a contract with programme administrator Ontario Power Authority.