Ontario’s coal-fired power phaseout, scheduled to be complete by 2014, will leave eight perfectly good 455-megawatt coal-fired generating units idle. These are hugely valuable assets, built and paid for by the former Ontario Hydro (which was since split into a…
Category: Ontario Power Generation
Cross-sector carbon offsets: how to sell Keystone to Obama
Canada’s Conservative government has been driving hard for years to help TransCanada Corporation persuade the U.S. president to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. The Conservatives must be wondering how it is that pipelines have caused them so much grief. In…
Outstanding environmental and financial performance in Ontario electricity: thanks, and no thanks, to the usual suspects
On the weekend just passed, Ontario’s electricity generation sector turned in perhaps its best performance in decades. The carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per kilowatt-hour generated—called the CIPK—were as low as I have ever seen them. This was because most of…
Bruce nuclear plant cranks up profits for partners: cash machine, anyone?
North America’s biggest clean energy centre, the Bruce nuclear power plant on Lake Huron near Tiverton Ontario, is also a major profit centre for its owners and operators. Its owners include me and 13 million of my fellow Ontario citizens:…
Heavy water versus light water in Ontario nuclear war: CANDU denouement
A few years ago I told Steve Paikin in a TV interview that when it comes down to a choice of nuclear reactors for Ontario, I tend to cheer the same way I do in international hockey tournaments: for the…