Miller slams proposal for transmission line

The Globe and Mail
April 4, 2007
Jennifer Lewington

A possible new high-voltage transmission line, now under discussion to bring electricity to downtown Toronto, drew a sharp rebuke yesterday from Mayor David Miller.

"Our whole electricity system at the province level needs to start with conservation-demand management and distributed generation and then look at new power plants and new transmission plants," he said. "Let's look at real conservation-demand management and then we can have a discussion about new power plants."

He was commenting on a Globe and Mail report about plans for a $600-million line from Markham through Scarborough, Leaside and Riverdale to the port lands.

The project, a possible combination of high-voltage towers and underground wires, would supply about 600- to 700-megawatts of power to central Toronto, providing backup for possible power disruptions to downtown businesses.

The Ontario Power Authority has identified the need for the new line (possibly supplied by nuclear power) by 2016, or even earlier by 2012. Hydro One, which would likely build the 26-kilometre line, has been in discussions with the OPA, which develops long-term forecasts of power needs, and Toronto Hydro-Electric Co., the Toronto Hydro affiliate that would deliver the power to customers.

Toronto Hydro-Electric president Anthony Haines says the transmission line is "a very important initiative" to boost the reliability of the power supply for downtown, adding that conservation, though important, cannot do enough to meet demand.

But Mr. Miller said the province "has got it backwards," with too much focus on new power plants and transmission lines instead of taking a leaf from Germany and California, which are pursuing aggressive conservation measures.

"We can do way better here and the City of Toronto wants to," he said. "We are ready to be a partner."

The mayor's comments came on the same day that the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, a lobby group that prefers renewable energy and natural gas to nuclear power, launched a campaign to fight the possible transmission line.

Councillor Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) opposes the project as an old-fashioned solution.

"It is like building a [Dodge] DeSoto with a V8 motor in 2007 rather than a hybrid as the way forward."