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Download the Long-Term Energy Plan.

On November 23, 2010, the Ontario government issued a Long-Term Energy Plan– Building Our Clean Energy Future – that sets out Ontario’s expected electricity needs until 2030 and establishes the most efficient ways to meet them. The 68-page plan will help guide the province as it continues to build a clean, modern and reliable electricity system.

Key elements of the plan include:

·         Recognizing that demand will grow moderately – by about 15 percent –between 2010 and 2030.

·         Reaffirming that Ontario will be coal-free by 2014. Two units at the Thunder Bay coal plant will be converted to gas and Atikokan will be converted to biomass. Two additional units at Nanticoke will be shut down in 2011.

·         Confirming that nuclear power will continue to comprise about 50 percent of Ontario’s electricity supply. Units at the Darlington and Bruce sites will need to be refurbished and two new nuclear units will be needed at Darlington.

·         Establishing that hydroelectric capacity will grow to about 9,000 megawatts (MW) through new facilities and investments to maximize the use of existing facilities.

·         Setting a target for having 13 percent of Ontario’s energy supply come from clean, renewable sources (wind, solar and bioenergy) by 2018, up from three per cent today. This will be accommodated through transmission expansion and maximizing the use of the existing system.

·         Broadening the conservation targets to 2030 – with a goal of reducing peak demand by 7,100 MW and over-all demand by 28 terawatt-hours (TWh).

·         Noting that over the next 20 years, estimated capital investments will total $87 billion.

·         Identifying that residential electricity bills are expected to rise by 3.5 per cent per year over the next 20 years and that industrial prices are expected to rise by 2.7 per cent per year in that same period.

When the Province issued the Plan, it also posted a draft supply-mix directive  on the Environmental Registry for a 45-day public comment period, ending January 7, 2011. At the same time, directives were issued to the OPA to address Combined Heat and Power projectsand non-utility generators.

When the final supply mix directive is issued, the OPA will undertake widespread consultations with stakeholders and other interested parties in order to update Ontario’s 20-year plan for the electricity sector. This is a continuation of the work that has been at the core of the OPA’s operations since it was established five years ago.

In 2005, the OPA issued a Supply Mix Advice report. A long-term plan, the Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP), was submitted by the OPA to the Ontario Energy Board in 2007.

Regulatory review of the plan was suspended in 2008, pending a new directive from the government. Considerable progress on a number of electricity system priorities continued:

·         About 8,400 MW of new supply has been added since 2003.

·         Peak demand has been reduced by more than 1,700 MW since 2005.

·         About 5,000 kilometres of transmission and distribution lines have been upgraded by Hydro One since 2003.

By the end of 2010, the OPA will have put into place contracts for more than 19,500 MW of new and existing supply. This represents an investment of about $30 billion in electricity infrastructure under way in the province. The Feed-in Tariff program, launched in 2009, has stimulated a clean-energy sector that is adding capacity to the provincial grid and creating thousands of jobs.

As a result, Ontario’s residents and businesses are enjoying the benefits of reliable, sustainable electricity supply. This is significant progress, given the tight supply situation that the province faced just a few summers ago. This turnaround also illustrates the importance of having a long-term electricity plan to maintain a system that is clean, reliable and cost-effective.

Ontariois now updating its long-term plan to capture the changing landscape of the provincial electricity sector. Several factors need to be considered:

• The global economic downturn and the success of conservation measures have significantly reduced the demand for electricity
• The growth of the renewable-energy sector
• The need for further substantial investments in supply and transmission
• The electrification of transportation, constrained-carbon emissions and the impact of the smart grid are emerging as long-term issues that have an impact on demand and supply.

As noted above, when the comment period on the draft supply-mix directive ends, the directive will be finalized and sent to the OPA.  Consultations will follow and an updated IPSP will be submitted to the OEB in 2011.

The OEB will conduct a review of the IPSP, including public hearings.  The final IPSP will constitute the detailed long-term energy plan for the next 20 years.  It will be updated every three years as required by regulation.