Gas plant use has tripled under PCs

Increase temporary while cleaner sources are being built, minister says

- MARCO CHOWN OVED

Ontario's gas-powered generating stations are intended to be 'peaker plants' used only as a last resort when demand is high

Gas plants are polluting like it was 2012. Ontario's natural gas power plants were fired up more often last year than they have been in more than a decade, marking a significant regression from the province's achievement of almost completely eliminating carbon emissions from the electricity system.

Year-end numbers for 2023, published by the Independent Electricity Systems Operator, show 19.1 Terawatt hours of electricity was generated by burning natural gas, a particularly potent greenhouse gas mostly made up of methane.

That is 26 per cent more than 2022 and the most gas plants have been used since 2012.

Ontario, which as recently as 2017 boasted of a grid that was 96 percent non-emitting, is now only 87 percent carbon-free. "It should be shocking to the people of Ontario that we're going in exactly the wrong direction in a time of escalating climate crisis," said Tim Gray, Executive Director of Environmental Defence.

"Never before in history have clean alternatives been cheaper or more accessible," Gray said. "It's an ideological commitment to fossil fuels at the expense of consumers wallets and the future survival of our society." In a statement to the Star, Energy Minister Todd Smith defended the increased use of gas plants as a temporary measure necessary to provide energy until non-emitting generation, like nuclear, can be built.

"Ontario continues to have one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, with a plan to build new clean generation, including nuclear, to further reduce emissions from the sector," Smith said.

"The Independent Electricity System Operator has been clear that in the short term more natural gas would be needed to keep the lights on," he added.