New PWU Discussion Paper Examines How Mitigating Ontario’s Electricity System Reliability Risks Requires a New Planning Approach
May 16, 2024
The second discussion paper, Mitigating Ontario’s Electricity System Needs, in a series by the Power Workers’ Union (PWU) was released recently.
These papers are offered to prompt discussion on better ways for Ontario to meet its growing electricity demand at a lower cost, with lower carbon emissions and in a more reliable, affordable and timely manner.
Ontario’s Powering Ontario’s Growth (POG) report laid out a pathway to ensure Ontario has the energy needed to power economic growth and electrification over the next three decades while maintaining its clean electricity advantage. The IESO’s Annual Planning Outlook (AOP) is not addressing this objective.
“Ontario urgently needs to accelerate building the scale of low-carbon infrastructure on a timeline that meets the province’s long-term resource requirements,” “which may instead enable upside opportunities,” said Jeff Parnell, President of the PWU. “There is minimal risk for Ontario to aggressively build out non-emitting baseload supply and beginning now the IESO should be procuring for those, not additional flexible resources. Ontario further requires a transparent transition strategy for the non-emitting baseload resources required to displace the use of the new gas-fired generation that Ontario will be forced to acquire in the next few years,” concluded Parnell.
The next PWU discussion paper will focus on the affordability risks that are mounting as Ontario’s planning approach continues to shorten the available timelines for addressing the infrastructure required to achieve a NZ economy.
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