The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has informed us that they intend to only contract for new projects in their upcoming procurement aimed at securing 5,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy. Existing projects can put forward expansions, but only the additional generation developed will be considered toward the 5,000 MW target, the IESO says.
This is good news and the first sign that the dam has broken on Ontario’s stonewalling of what is now our lowest cost source of new electricity supply.
But while 5,000 MW is a good start, it is far from enough. Ontario is simultaneously planning to add 1,500 MW of polluting gas-fired generation and build or re-build 16,000 MW of expensive and slow-to-deploy nuclear energy.
This plan makes little sense when you consider that solar and wind can supply power at less than half the cost of new nuclear and without the greenhouse gases and air pollution produced by burning gas.
A 5,000 MW increase in renewables would represent a 30% increase in Ontario’s renewable electricity capacity. So this gets us only one-tenth the way toward the Dubai climate summit’s goal of tripling renewable electricity.
Instead of waiting one to two decades for expensive and risky nuclear projects to be finished – and relying on polluting gas in the meantime – this province should be much more aggressively developing solar and wind power. Remember that while renewable energy production records have been smashed worldwide over the last five years, Ontario added not a single kilowatt of wind and solar power to its system.
We need to catch up with the rest of the world in tapping hugely beneficial and low cost solar and wind power. A good next step would be lifting the pointless moratorium on offshore wind power in the Great Lakes, a source that could meet all of Ontario’s current electricity needs.
It’s time for Ontario to make a commitment to triple its wind and solar power by 2035 to phase-out gas power, lower our electricity bills, create good jobs and provide our manufacturing and mining companies with low-cost green power.
Please send Premier Ford, Energy Minister Todd Smith, Opposition Leaders and your MPP a message to TRIPLE wind and solar in Ontario by 2035!