In a push to meet forecasts for soaring electricity demand in the next 25 years, Ontario is testing support for new power plants — possibly nuclear — in three locations.
Ontario Power Generation is being tasked with beginning discussions with municipal, community and Indigenous leaders for sites it owns in Port Hope, just east of the Darlington nuclear plant, Nanticoke on the north shore of Lake Erie near Port Dover, and along the St. Clair River south of Sarnia.
“With demand continuing to grow, it is clear we must build for the future and plan ahead,” Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said Wednesday.
New plants are needed to meet demand from 2035 onwards and the government will consider “all types of new energy generation,” he added.
Calling more nuclear power “the only way we can reduce (carbon) emissions” while increasing the electricity supply, Lecce hinted at the need for new power plants last month when the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator issued a forecast showing the need for power will soar 75 per cent by 2050.
That’s the equivalent of adding four-and-a-half cities the size of Toronto to the grid.
The community consultations come as Premier Doug Ford‘s government prepares to release a new provincial energy plan early next year. Lecce has said it will include a “significant expansion” of energy efficiency programs and that nuclear generation will be the “overarching focus.”
“We need to know we can work in strong partnership from the outset,” Lecce said, speaking of the three communities that are no strangers to electricity generation.
The Nanticoke and Sarnia-area sites were home to massive coal-fired generating stations that were shut down years ago, while the Port Hope location was to be the site of an oil-fired generating station until the early 1970s oil crisis sent fuel prices skyrocketing and halted construction there.
The Port Hope site, also known as Wesleyville, is considered the most likely spot for a large nuclear power plant, with enough room to accommodate a facility the size of the nearby Darlington generating station, or possibly larger.
There is now an Ontario Power Generation solar farm on the Nanticoke site, and the Sarnia site is close to a gas-fired power plant.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner called for public hearings on the new energy plan and urged the government — which is hinting at an early election next spring instead of waiting until the scheduled date in June 2026 — to emphasize renewables like solar, wind and storage as costs fall for those sources of electricity.
“I thought they were going to do a competitive procurement process for the lowest-cost, emission-free electricity,” he said Wednesday. “They’re more interested in high-cost new nuclear than they are in taking advantage of low-cost renewables.”
Lecce said the government will consider “all types of new energy generation.”
The government’s chosen sites are already zoned for power plants and close to transmission lines in areas with strong population growth.
Lecce said engaging communities early is key to the process, and is establishing a fund of up to $50 million for investments in local infrastructure and attracting industry in the three potential locations. New plants would also boost local tax revenue and create jobs, both in construction and long-term operation of the facilities.
New plants have the potential to improve “economic reconciliation” with local First Nations through “equity participation” in the generation projects, said Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford.
“We look forward to meeting with municipalities and First Nations to understand their perspectives and aspirations,” said Ontario Power Generation president Ken Hartwick, who will retire at the end of the year.
The forecast of soaring demand was up from a previous forecast of a 60 per cent increase in demand by 2050.
That increase is fuelled by a continuing surge in energy-hungry data centres using artificial intelligence, population growth, increasing electrification of cars, public transit, home heating, electric vehicle battery plants and steelmaking as it transitions to electric arc furnaces from coal.
The government is also seeking approval to refurbish the aging Pickering B generating station.
