We need to triple renewable electricity in Ontario

Global use of renewable energy is soaring – in 2024, 92.5% of the world’s new electricity supply was renewable. Thanks to costs that have fallen dramatically over the past two decades, solar and wind are now the lowest cost sources of power available. It’s time for Ontario to set a goal of doubling renewables by 2035 and tripling use of these low-cost sources by 2050.

With demand for electricity increasing to serve everything from heat pumps to EVs and data centres, solar and wind power are the best way to quickly add climate friendly power to our system. Instead of seizing this opportunity, the Ford government continues to make risky bets on massively expensive nuclear projects.

Ontario has no shortage of ways to catch up with a world that is going renewable. Everything from rooftop solar that lowers power bills for residents and creates a more resilient local grid, to offshore wind in the Great Lakes which can provide enough power to meet all of Ontario’s current needs, are just waiting to be tapped.

Ways to store this power have also multiplied and come down significantly in cost. We can use everything from stationary batteries and thermal storage, hydro reservoirs, and a growing fleet of EVs to store power. Solar and wind plus storage is a much better bargain than gas or nuclear – for our wallets and our climate.

Our report on Tripling Ontario’s Renewable supply outlines the major cost savings of choosing solar and wind instead of expensive and cumbersome nuclear power.  It explains how we can quickly increase our supply of low-cost and fast-to-deploy solar and wind to meet growing electricity demand while keeping costs in check.  It is time for Ontario to get going on tripling its renewable energy supply.

At the COP28 Climate Summit in 2023, 198 countries from around the world agreed to set a target of tripling renewable energy capacity. This action is key to keep global heating from reaching even more dangerous levels. It is also a cost effective and readily available way to reduce our climate impact while meeting the need to electrify homes and transportation.

Ontario should double renewable energy by 2035 and triple it by 2050.

While the Ford government has finally agreed to get back to building renewable power in this province, it is throwing massive amounts of money at polluting gas plants and risky new nuclear projects. Right now, the province is looking to build or re-build up to 26,500 MW of expensive and slow-to-deploy nuclear energy.

Not only is nuclear power and gas twice as expensive as wind and solar plus storage, they do nothing to address our need to reduce climate damaging emissions right now. Increased fossil gas burning makes these emissions worse while nuclear projects will take a decade or more to complete, leaving us dependent on gas burning for years to come.