Olivia Woods
Premier Doug Ford’s government is planning to build more gas-fired power plants in Ontario, a decision that has been criticized for its potential impact on the province’s energy grid and putting an additional financial burden on taxpayers.
The province is now accepting proposals for increased energy output from gas-powered facilities. This could involve the construction of brand-new gas plants or the expansion of existing ones.
It’s expected to be the largest rise in gas-fired power generation in Ontario in almost a decade, after the previous Liberal government eliminate two gas facilities in Mississauga and Oakville at a cost of approximately $1 billion.
According to Todd Smith, Ford’s energy minister, Ontario needs gas plants urgently in order to meet an anticipated rise in demand for electricity and to provide power while several units of the province’s nuclear facilities are down for maintenance.
“It’s really important to have natural gas as an insurance policy to be there to keep the lights on and provide the reliability that we need,” said Smith in an interview.
“We need to have natural gas for the short term, especially to get us through these refurbishments.”
Both the environment and the economy of Ontario are affected by the amount of the province’s electricity supply coming from natural gas.
Electricity sources that produce minimal amounts of carbon dioxide emissions are gaining popularity among industrial manufacturers.
Ford has been promoting Ontario’s “clean energy advantage” as a reason for Volkswagen’s $7 billion investment in a battery facility for electric vehicles.
According to Evan Pivnick, program manager at the think tank Clean Energy Canada, increasing the quantity of gas-fired production in the electricity system threatens Ontario’s capacity to attract big investments like this one.
“Building new natural gas (power plants) in Ontario today should be seen as an absolute last resort for meeting our energy needs,” said Pivnick.
With nearly half of the annual supply coming from nuclear power plants, a quarter from hydro dams, and a tenth from wind turbines, Ontario’s electrical grid holds among the lowest CO2 emissions in North America.
However, gas plants in Ontario have been producing more and more power in recent years, and this trend will likely continue if more gas plants are developed.
According to data from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) gas and oil-fired electricity accounted for only four percent of the province’s electricity supply in 2017.
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