Energy News
Suncor takes flack for renewable energy investments
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- Category: News
- Written by Lynda Harrison
Suncor Energy was called to task by a shareholder at the company’s annual meeting in May for its use of food to produce energy and its investments in wind power.
The shareholder questioned Rick George, president and chief executive officer, during the meeting’s question and answer period as to how those sources of energy fit in with
Suncor’s commitment to social responsibility and how wind power, which needs to be subsidized, can be economic.
Using grain to produce fuel is not a long-term solution, but the federal government mandates that a percentage of ethanol be blended into gasoline and currently the only viable source is grain, said George.
Suncor, industry and almost every university in North America is working on developing another source such as biomass, but a solution appears to be a long way off, he said.
Suncor has Canada’s largest ethanol plant by volume in Sarnia, Ont., where current capacity of 200 million litres per year doubled to 400 million litres per year when an expansion was completed in January. According to the company’s website, the plant displaces the equivalent of 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and uses 40 million bushels of corn annually, approximately 20 per cent of Ontario’s annual corn crop.
The type of corn used as feedstock has traditionally been used to feed livestock.
Once the starches are extracted from the corn to make ethanol, the remaining elements are used to make premium cattle feed.
Wind is Suncor’s lowest-return business, but the company is taking a long-term view of wind power, George told the meeting, adding the company is investing in its sixth such project.
Suncor plans to spend $500 million over five years developing wind energy and biofuels. The renewable energy projects create partial offsets for its greenhouse gas emissions. By the end of 2011, Suncor expects its renewable energy projects will displace a total of nearly one million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
The company’s renewable energy assets contributed operating earnings of $15 million in the first quarter of 2011, which was comparable to operating earnings of $14 million in the first quarter of 2010.
