The cost and source of Ontario’s electrical power has been a hot topic for years, but happily for the PC government, it had dropped from the headlines. That is, until Energy Minister Greg Rickford was forced to defend the cost of cancelling 750 wind and solar contracts.
It ought to have been easy, because not going ahead with the extra generating capacity is the most rational thing the PCs have done on the electricity file. Ontario already generates more power than it needs and it sells the surplus at a loss. A 2017 study by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers estimated that exporting power at big discounts cost Ontario up to $1.25 billion over two years. Adding more wind and solar would make that problem worse while doing nothing to make Ontario’s already-green power generation system greener still.
In Ontario, 86 per cent of power comes from emissions-free hydro and nuclear power. Wind provides seven per cent of the province’s electricity, with solar and biofuel contributing less than one per cent. Gas plants produce six per cent of power and act primarily as a backup for wind and solar, when it’s not sunny or windy.
That’s the power production, but a look at the capacity of the system should lower enthusiasm for more wind and solar. Wind makes up 12 per cent of the province’s generating capacity, nearly double its contribution to power produced. The most interesting number is natural gas, which could supply 27 per cent of the province’s power. This sector was massively overbuilt by the former Liberal government and at great cost. Less than 25 per cent of the province’s gas generation capacity is used.
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See Also:
(1) Mayor John Tory pitches tax hike to fund transit, housing
(2) Spare a thought for these poor Ontario Liberal leadership hopefuls
So Torontonians (the GTA) are this day crying and whining about increased taxes. Poor babies. So cry the ROC a river. We don’t care. As your idol Obama (and a Trudeau mentor) once lectured, elections have consequences. As Margaret Thatcher once said ‘The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money’. Guess what fools. They are both right! Your politicians are running out of ‘your’ money’ and they want more and they are going to take it. Because they know you are so ideologically FUBAR and genuinely stupid you will still keep voting for them anyway. The tax thieves know you will always have their backs. No matter what. Reap the whirlwind…you deserve it.