Toronto—The Ontario government's proposal for two new build nuclear power plants, with a total capacity of 1,000MW, is the most marginal component of the government's electricity plan released yesterday and could be easily avoided. That is the conclusion of further analysis of the province's plan completed by the Pembina Institute.
"The need for the new build nuclear plants could have been avoided completely if the government had simply retained the Ontario Power Authority's recommendation for 11,000MW of high efficiency natural gas powered generation and cogeneration, instead of reducing that target to 9,400MW," said Dr. Mark Winfield, Director of the Pembina Institute's Environmental Governance Program. No explanation for this reduction was offered by the government yesterday.
The need for new build plants would also be avoided if:
- The rate of electricity consumption grows at its actual average rate over the past 15 years (approximately 0.5% per year), as opposed to the higher rate (1.8%) used by the OPA for planning purposes.
- The adoption of non-electricity based commercially available space and water heating technologies, such as solar hot water and ground source heat pumps occurs faster than predicted by the OPA. This possibility was noted by Ministry of Energy officials in their briefings yesterday.
"The government has offered no rational explanation for its determination to proceed with new build nuclear facilities in light of these considerations" concluded Dr. Winfield.
The Pembina Institute is a national, independent, not-for profit, energy and environmental policy research and education organization. The Institute has provided extensive analyses of the Province of Ontario's electricity policies.
For more information contact:
Mark S. Winfield, Ph.D.
Director, Environmental Governance
Tel: 416-978-3486
Cell: 416-434-8130
e-mail: markw@pembina.org