This article was written by Rob Ferguson and was published in the Toronto Star on June 14, 2024.
Ontario’s new energy minister says the fast-growing province can’t afford an “ideological” push to wean its electricity system off fossil fuels, even as concerns about climate change mount.
“I cannot underscore this enough,” Stephen Lecce said Thursday at the Darlington nuclear plant where the next phase of construction is beginning on a small modular reactor.
“We will not pursue an ideological path that will deny some forms of energy when we need all of them to help fuel our economy.”
Lecce was appointed head of the rebranded Ministry of Energy and Electrification a week ago when Premier Doug Ford shuffled his cabinet and adjourned the legislature for an unusually long summer break — until Oct. 21. MPPs had been scheduled to return Sept. 9.
The government has faced criticism for a growing reliance on natural gas-fuelled power plants to keep the lights on at times of peak demand.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner said Lecce, who spent the past several years as minister of education, is “disconnected from the reality Ontario is facing.”
“Ramping up expensive, dirty gas plants makes no sense when people are facing an affordability crisis and a climate emergency,” Schreiner added in a statement.
Statistics from the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), which manages the needs of the electricity system on a day-to-day basis, show use of natural-gas-fired power plants last year was up 26 per cent from 2022 and at the highest usage level since 2012.
As recently as 2017, Ontario’s electricity grid was 96-per-cent free of carbon emissions, but that has now fallen to 87 per cent in a trend environmental groups warn is the wrong direction.
Lecce said his mandate in the new ministry is to “scale up our energy using all forms of nuclear and natural gas and renewables” in what he called “an all-of-the-above approach to build for the future” as the province’s population and industries grow rapidly.
That industrial growth includes new electric vehicle battery plants for Stellantis in Windsor, Volkswagen near St. Thomas and Honda in Alliston, in addition to new electric arc furnaces for steelmakers.
Last month, the IESO contracted for new power supply from 10 battery storage facilities and three natural gas and biogas plants amid surging electricity demand.
Battery storage projects can charge during off-peak hours and shoot energy into the grid as needed during peak times, such as hot summer afternoons and evenings.