Global renewable energy giant EDPR slammed Ontario officials for wasting time and money after it won a legal battle against the Canadian province’s abrupt cancellation of consents for an almost-completed wind farm.

A court this week reinstated approval for the 100MW Nation Rise wind farm southeast of Ottawa after the developer challenged Ontario officials’ decision in December to revoke a key environmental permit.

EDPR – which at the time branded the decision “wholly perplexing” and damaging to investor confidence – had by then installed many of the project’s 29 Enercon 3.44MW turbines after working at the site for months.

In a statement EDPR quoted the court as saying the permit withdrawal by Ontario environment minister Jeff Yurek did “not meet requirements of transparency, justification, and intelligibility, as the minister has failed to adequately explain his decision”.

Local reports at the time suggested the government’s move was prompted by protests over impact on bat populations, but the developer said the project had passed scrutiny by the province’s own Environmental Review Tribunal.

Portugal-based EDPR said: “This delay has resulted in unnecessary expenditures to-date, at a time when governments and businesses should be focused on reducing costs and restarting the economy”.

It added: “Nation Rise ... will provide low-cost energy at approximately half the price of typical residential electricity rates, while producing zero emission electricity.

Nation Rise was one of the last projects to get under the wire of Ontario’s Large Renewable Procurement scheme, which was cancelled by Conservative premier Doug Ford as soon as he took office in 2018.

Ford, a renewables sceptic, caused outrage among developers then when he annulled more than 750 early-stage wind and solar projects.

Wind

Renewables giant slams Ontario for waste of time and money as court overturns wind farm halt