Minister Guilbeault: Getting gas out will require getting loopholes out

The Trudeau Government has promised to ensure Canada has a net zero-carbon electricity grid by 2035 as a key step toward finally achieving long promised emission reductions and meeting our international climate treaty obligations for the first time.

The problem is the regulations it has drafted won’t do the job.

That’s because these regulations contain massive loopholes that will allow fossil gas burning long past 2035. As our new report on the government’s proposed regulations notes, these loopholes will permit the greenhouse gas pollution of Ontario’s gas plants to be almost 200% greater in 2035 than they were in 2017.

Specifically, the proposed Clean Electricity Regulations’ loopholes will permit:

– Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) giant Napanee Generating Station and Greenfield South’s Green Electron gas plant to operate at full capacity 24/7 until Dec. 31, 2040 and Dec. 31, 2037 respectively;

– All of Ontario’s gas plants, except the Lennox Generating Station, to operate for 450 hours per year; and

– The Government of Ontario to proceed with its plans to build up to 1,500 megawatts of new gas-fired generating capacity.

The good news is that our report also finds that Ontario can move to a net zero-carbon electricity grid by 2035 and lower its electricity bills by investing in wind and solar energy. There is no need for the loopholes contained in the draft regulations to keep the lights on here. In fact, Great Lakes wind power alone could supply more than 100% of Ontario’s electricity needs.

By combining wind and solar with Hydro Quebec’s reservoirs these intermittent sources of electricity can be converted into firm 24/7 sources of baseload electricity for Ontario. The storage capacity of Hydro Quebec’s reservoirs is 1.6 times greater than Ontario’s annual electricity consumption.