Ontario needs more electricity — and lots of it.
As demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps ramp up, projections show the province will need to more than double its generation capacity by 2050.
While Queen’s Park has committed to building new natural gas plants and one the the world’s first small nuclear reactors, energy sector experts say there’s a better way.
Offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes could provide enough carbon-free energy to meet all of Ontario’s growing demand at nearly half the cost of new nuclear reactors, according to a new report published by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
But there’s a problem: Ontario declared a moratorium on offshore wind projects in 2011.
“It was in response to political pressure that they put the moratorium on wind power in the Great Lakes,” said Jack Gibbons, chair of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance and a former Toronto Hydro commissioner.
The situation has changed, he said.
“The cost of wind power has fallen dramatically due to improvements in technology,” said Gibbons. “We need to develop a lot more clean energy and Great Lakes wind power is the best way to decarbonize our economy and to lower our electricity rates.”
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN...
The report lays out the case for ending the moratorium on offshore wind in Ontario, saying the renewable technology is uniquely placed to meet surging energy demand and can be built quickly and cheaply.
Wind turbines in particular have dropped so precipitously in price that they are currently cheaper than new natural gas plants.
Last year, the Ohio Supreme Court approved the Great Lakes’ first offshore wind project, located near Cleveland in Lake Erie. It will be part of more than 11,000 megawatts of offshore wind power coming online in the next three years, according to the American Clean Energy Association.
While Nova Scotia has set a target of building 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind generation by 2030 — and the G7 pledged to build 150,000 megawatts of offshore wind by the same date — there are no offshore turbines currently in operation anywhere in Canada.
Opposition to offshore wind has focused on perceived harms to aquatic ecosystems and migratory birds. The report, however, cites a Ministry of Natural Resources study that found offshore wind farms, if done properly, could have “minimal impacts.”
While the turbines are responsible for approximately one million migratory bird deaths per year in the U.S, this number is dwarfed by those caused by household cats, which kill more than 2.4 billion birds annually, the report said.
Meanwhile, recent whale deaths off the U.S. eastern seaboard, initially suspected to be caused by turbines, were in fact found to have been caused by collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing nets.
“There is no scientific basis for the ongoing moratorium on offshore wind projects in Ontario,” said Bryan Purcell, vice-president of policy and programs at The Atmospheric Fund, in an email.
Any concerns regarding potential impacts on wildlife can be managed through site-specific environmental assessments, he added.
Ontario Energy Ministry spokesperson Michael Dodsworth said the province has no plans to revisit the moratorium.
Evan Pivnick, clean energy program manager at Clean Energy Canada, touted the economic benefits of offshore wind projects, which do not encroach on people’s homes like onshore wind farms.
“Offshore wind is a very significant resource that could be tapped to offer clean electricity to power Ontario homes and businesses,” he said.
“Abundant, cheap and clean electricity is one of Ontario’s most important competitive advantages. Let’s set aside the climate necessity of deploying clean energy and look at this purely from an economic perspective. This is going to be central to Ontario remaining competitive with other regions of Canada and the U.S. when it comes to attracting investment.”
Ontario’s clean electricity has been cited as a factor in attracting large investments in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing over the last few years, including plants being built by Stellantis, Volkswagen and GM.
Cleaning up Canada’s electricity grid will be the “backbone” of the federal government’s efforts to transition to a low-carbon economy, officials said at last month’s federal budget announcement.
“If there is one single input that is essential to a transition to a low-carbon economy, it is the availability of low-cost, clean electricity,” one official told reporters before the budget’s release.
The budget includes $80 billion in new green tax credits for businesses, up to $6.3 billion of which is earmarked for building new non-emitting electricity to help each province reach the goal of 100 per cent non-emitting electricity by 2035.
But Ontario, which halted the construction of renewable energy generation when Premier Doug Ford was elected in 2018, has instead opted for new nuclear and natural gas plants.
This means the province’s electricity mix has been becoming progressively more carbon intensive, moving away from net-zero. Ontario’s grid was 96 per cent carbon free in 2017. Last year, it was 89 per cent carbon free, according to data from the Independent Electricity System Operator.
“Wind and solar are now our lowest cost sources of new electricity supply. But unfortunately, Doug Ford is going in the wrong direction. He wants to build new polluting gas fired power plants. He wants to build new high cost nuclear reactors. And that just doesn’t make sense,” said Gibbons.
Offshore wind could produce electricity at 14.2 cents per kilowatt hour, less than 60 per cent of the 24.3 cents that energy from new nuclear plants would cost, according to the report.
There’s also the question of construction timelines. While wind farms can be built in 12 months, nuclear plants take 10 to 15 years to complete, the report said.
“The United Nations has recently told us that we have to dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas pollution by 2030. And that means that a new nuclear plant can’t help us to address the threat of climate change. But wind power projects that can be built in a year can help us significantly reduce our greenhouse gas pollution in time,” Gibbons said.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cited renewables in its recent landmark report, saying they were among the cheapest options with the largest potential to reduce emissions. Nuclear power was both more expensive and had a smaller impact.
The International Energy Agency has also highlighted the staggering potential of renewable energy to transform the world quickly. While last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine stoked fears that the world would renege on its climate commitments, the war ended up accelerating the global adoption of renewables.
“Moratoriums on these sorts of technologies will really only see Ontario fall massively behind. This isn’t a risky technology. This is one that has widespread deployment across much of the rest of the world,” said Pivnick.
International community calls for end to violence in Sudan 5 hours ago2:34