It took the Grand River Conservation Authority decades to get the necessary approvals to build an electrical power plant on Cambridge’s Park Hill Road dam, but the recent change in government has stopped those plans at least for now.

“We came so close. I’m disappointed obviously,” said GRCA chair Helen Jowett in an email.

On July 16, the GRCA received notice of termination of its Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) contract for the proposed Park Hill Road Dam Hydro Generating Station from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).

In September 2016, the GRCA board authorized staff to enter into an agreement with the IESO under the FIT Program for the sale of electricity from the proposed new hydro generating station.

“We have stopped all work related to the project at this time; however, we will continue to explore avenues to develop renewable energy at the Parkhill Dam site if future opportunities arise.”

Cam Linwood, GRCA communications co-ordinator

Preliminary work had already started on the $5.2-million project, which was slated to take about five years to complete and begin electrical generation in 2021 and 2022.

In March 2017, the GRCA hired WSP Consultants for $360,000 to carry out an environmental assessment (EA) and to design the proposed power generating station.

The EA and the design are the first stage of this project was almost completed when the new Conservative government took office.

“We were nearing the completion of the class environmental assessment, which began in June 2017, and have appreciated working with the community throughout the process,” said authority communications co-ordinator Cam Linwood in an email. “We have stopped all work related to the project at this time, however, we will continue to explore avenues to develop renewable energy at the Parkhill Dam site if future opportunities arise.”

The Park Hill dam power project would have involved building a 500-kilowatt generating station into the existing dam, which would produce enough electricity to supply 560 homes.

Ontario's new Progressive Conservative government has cancelled 758 renewable energy contracts in what it says is an effort to reduce electricity bills in the province. The move is part of a campaign pledge the Progressive Conservatives made during the spring election to end the projects.