Sask. NDP hopes proposed loan program will prompt switch to renewable energy

A loan program that would enable people, businesses and farms to switch over to more energy-efficient options and renewable energy is a key element of the Saskatchewan NDP's climate change plan.

NDP leader Ryan Meili presented the Renew Saskatchewan plan to delegates at the party's convention in Saskatoon on Saturday.

"This really lowers the cost of entry; it gets a lot more people into that place where they can start reducing their energy use and even producing electricity to feed back into the grid," Meili said, in an interview following his keynote address.

Renew Saskatchewan would see agents examine homes and buildings to offer options on how people could reduce their energy use and costs. It would also offer loans spaced out to pay for some or all the costs of the installation.

Customers would pay the loans back through their power or energy bills, based on the value of the power generated or the fossil fuel energy saved by the installation.

"It gets us past what's keeping so many people away from doing this transition, which is the cost," Meili said of the loan program.

Talking with experts, engineers, economists, experts in renewable energy, this is a feasible way of doing things.- Ryan Meili, Saskatchewan NDP leader

Specific details have yet to be hammered out, but these would answer how big the fund would be and how it would be financed, whether that was through borrowing, general interest spending, or another creative option like green energy saving bonds, he said. That would in turn determine if people had to pay interest on their loans, and how much the interest would be.

"The thing that I like about this, is that because it's repaid, phase one leads to phase two which leads to phase three," he said. "The same money can be used over and over again to further advance the movement to renewable energy.

"It's kind of a permanent transition."

The Renew Saskatchewan plan could potentially be available not just to residents, but as it continued to build, to small towns and larger municipalities to retrofit buildings like arenas and swimming pools, he said.

"Talking with experts, engineers, economists, experts in renewable energy, this is a feasible way of doing things," he said. "It would be Saskatchewan's own model, but that's because we're building on Saskatchewan's strengths."