Ontario's big power expansion is portrayed by the Ford government as a good news story with little context on costs
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
Ontario is “investing” billions of dollars in the idea of an all-electric future, one that features electric home heating and electric cars. The government’s approach involves both a massive expansion of the province’s electrical generating capacity and heavy subsidies for makers of electric vehicle batteries.
The Doug Ford government is approaching the electric future with gung-ho enthusiasm. When it comes to electricity, cost seems to be no object for this government, but who will pay for all the spending?
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Last week, Minister of Energy and Electrification Stephen Lecce was in Ottawa to announce that government owned Ontario Power Generation (OPG) would spend $1 billion to refurbish eight hydroelectric generating stations in Eastern Ontario. The aging generating stations can produce enough power for 1.6-million homes. The modernization, while necessary, adds only enough additional power to supply another 11,000 homes.
The announcement follows similar ones to spend $600 million on fixing up a hydro station in Cornwall and $1 billion to modernize the Niagara Falls power plant. Neither of those projects claim additional capacity. That’s $2.6 billion just to fix up aging infrastructure, not add meaningful capacity.
It’s a drop in the bucket compared to Ontario’s overall........