It’s time for gas to go
Doug Ford is planning to increase the greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution from Ontario’s existing gas-fired power plants by more than 300% by 2030 and by 700% by 2043 as the province uses gas to replace aging nuclear plants and to meet growing demand for electricity from population growth and increased electrification (electric cars, home heating). If this occurs, Ontario will lose almost half of the pollution reduction benefits it achieved by phasing-out its dirty coal plants.
To add insult to injury, in Oct. 2022 the Doug Ford government directed the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to contract for the building of NEW gas plants in Ontario.
- How Ontario Can Avoid New Gas Plants and Lower Electricity Costs
- Getting Ontario to a Zero Carbon Electricity System by 2030
- Read our Jan. 2021 report on how Ontario can phase out its gas-fired power plants
- Read our Sept. 2022 report: More IESO Trickery About Phasing-Out Gas Power
- Phasing out gas: Frequently Asked Questions
- 8 min. video explaining how we can phase-out gas plants in Ontario
- Getting Ontario to a Zero-Carbon Electricity Grid by 2030 and Lower Bills – PPT
We can phase-out gas-fired power by:
- Doubling our spot market purchases of Quebec waterpower using existing transmission lines;
- Banning gas-fired electricity exports to the U.S.;
- Purchasing all energy efficiency savings, solar and wind power that can keep our lights on at less than today’s price of nuclear electricity (10.9 cents per kWh);
- Expanding our transmission links with Quebec and using Hydro Quebec’s reservoirs to act like a giant battery for our wind and solar energy; and
- Installing bi-directional chargers for our electric vehicles (EVs) so that their batteries can provide power to the grid during peak demand hours.
Ontario’s municipalities call for a gas phase out
Thirty-four Ontario municipalities have passed resolutions requesting the Government of Ontario to phase-out our gas plants.
List of municipalities that have called for a gas plant phase-out
Specifically, Ontario’s municipalities have asked the province to:
- Return the gas plants’ pollution to their 2017 level ASAP; and
- Achieve a complete gas plant phase-out by 2030.
In response to the municipal requests, in March 2021, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), which issues contracts for power generation on behalf of Ontario, decided to look at what would be involved in phasing out gas plants. It undertook public consultations on the issue, where it heard in no uncertain terms that the people of Ontario want to see gas power phased out.
In addition, more than 60 citizens groups have called for a 100% gas power phase-out by 2030.
We are asking Prime Minister Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to work together to establish federal Clean Electricity Regulations that will a) prohibit the building of new gas plants in Ontario effective immediately: and b) require Ontario to move to a net zero-carbon electricity grid by 2030. Thirty three other organizations have joined our call.
See our Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, and our Open Letter to NDP Leader Singh.
Click here to see letters from politicians to Prime Minister Trudeau about the need for federal regulations to phase-out gas power in Ontario.
Click here to send your own message to Prime Minister Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
Click here to ask Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to remove the loopholes from his draft Clean Electricity Regulations
Pushing the IESO to take a gas phase-out seriously
We sent a series of letters to the IESO about our thoughts on the best ways to phase-out gas:
- Why we need to phase out gas – April 2021
- Feedback on the IESO’s proposed consultation – May 2021
- How we can ramp down gas emissions and phase out gas by 2030 – June 2021
- The potential of vehicle-to-grid technology to help us phase out gas – November 2021
In October 2021 the IESO released a simplistic, biased and fundamentally flawed report which provides a sub-optimal plan to achieve a 99.7% gas power phase-out by 2030. In addition, the report falsely claims that it would be impossible to obtain the remaining 3/10ths of 1% our electricity needs from carbon-free sources by 2030.
Getting Ontario to a Zero-Carbon Electricity Grid by 2030 and Lower Bills – PPT
As a result, on October 7th, Ontario’s Minister of Energy Todd Smith sent the IESO back to the drawing board. That is, Minister Smith directed the IESO to develop a plan to achieve a complete phase-out of gas power by an unspecified date. While Minister Smith’s directive is a step in the right direction, it needs to be amended to require the IESO to develop a plan which will return the gas plants’ pollution back to their 2017 level ASAP and achieve a complete gas power phase-out by 2030.
Read our Feb. 2022 report on how Ontario can phase out gas-fired generation.
Read our March 8, 2022 letter to the IESO with respect to the scope, modelling and input assumptions of its proposed Pathways to Decarbonization study.
Read our March 23, 2022 memo to the IESO with respect to its Operability Assessment PPT presentation for its proposed Pathways to Decarbonization study.
Read our March 23, 2022 letter to Environment Minister Guilbeault with respect to phasing-out gas power in Ontario by 2030, five years in advance of the target for Canada’s provinces with fossil-fuel intensive electricity grids (e.g, Alberta and Saskatchewan). We are also asking the Government of Canada to apply the carbon tax to 100% of our gas plants’ pollution, not just 5% as is the case today.
As reported in the Globe and Mail on April 16, 2022, thanks to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request filed by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA), we now know that the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) fully understood that its report on the feasibility of a gas-fired power phase-out was highly misleading and skewed to present a frightening worst-case scenario. See our analysis of the FOI materials we received from the IESO.
Read our July 11, 2022 submission to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada re: Eastern Power’s proposed new gas-fired power plant near Sarnia, ON.
Read our August 8, 2022, letter to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault requesting him to prohibit the construction of new gas-fired power plants in Ontario and to move Ontario to a net-zero-carbon electricity grid by 2030.
Read our gas phase-out leaflet and order free copies here for your friends and neighbours.
