More Affordable, More ReliableThese wedge diagrams illustrate three electricity futures for Ontario and what mix of energy supply — coal, nuclear, renewable energy, conservation, energy efficiencicy, natural gas and cogeneration — would be needed for each scenario to meet demand over the next 20 years.

Efficiency and Conservation

The first step in greening Ontario's grid is to eliminate wasted power. We use 60 per cent more electricity per capita than people living in New York State. This waste represents a gold mine. As California has found, it is far cheaper to pay to find this hidden waste, and extract it with smart energy-saving technologies, than to pay for new power plants. The Soft Green package pursues all of the conservation and efficiency resources identified by the OPA as cost effective and achievable. The Deep Green package would match the efficiency levels being achieved in leading jurisdictions in Europe and the U.S.

Renewable Energy

The Soft Green package maintains existing hydro plants such as Niagara and those in northern Ontario, but supplements these with additional hydro imports from Manitoba and Quebec and a diverse slate of new renewable wind farms (the largest new source of power), low-impact hydro plants, bio-fuel generators, and solar panels. The Deep Green package adds even more wind power, coupled with storage capacity to better meet peak demands and more solar power.

Cogeneration

The Green scenarios include aggressive measures to recycle or convert the large amounts of wasted heat energy at Ontario industrial and commercial sites into power with little or no incremental environmental impact, through a proven technology called cogeneration. Ontario ranks far behind many parts of Europe and the U.S. in tapping this potential. Converting this waste heat into power is cheaper, cleaner, and less risky than building new nuclear capacity, and has the added benefit of reducing stress on the electricity grid because power is produced close to where it is used.

Natural Gas

Natural gas is far cleaner than coal, but still emits greenhouse gases and smog-causing pollutants. Both Green packages use fewer gas plants than what the OPA Plan requires, and the Deep Green package would avoid the need for some plants already planned.

Coal

According to our modeling, the OPA's Preliminary Plan won't fully phase out coal until 2017 due to its reliance on nuclear power; the OPA predicts the performance of Ontario's nuclear plants will improve dramatically, but we have assumed that they perform no better or worse than they have over the last 30 years which means keeping coal longer. Both Green Scenarios eliminate coal by 2012.

Nuclear

The OPA Plan puts the greatest portion of its resources into nuclear power. The Soft Green package assumes that the rebuilding of the Bruce nuclear reactors that are already contracted for go ahead, but that there are no additional investments in new or rebuilt nuclear plants. The Deep Green package phases out all nuclear by 2027.

Three Electricity Futures for Ontario

The current Ontario government's OPA plan — a supply mix based largely on nuclear. Coal is phased out by 2017 The "Soft Green" plan — a supply mix based on more renewable energy, energy efficiency and co-generation. Coal is phased out coal by 2012. No new nuclear is built or refurbished, except for the rebuilding of the Bruce reactors that is already contracted. Nuclear is phased out almost completely by 2021 with the end of the natural life cycle of nuclear plants. The "Deep Green" plan — ends and phases out all nuclear energy completely and replaces reactors and most natural gas with a combination of more aggressive conservation, wind and solar power, including adding storage capacity to some of the wind farms.