Jews sending Canada into the DARKNESS (seriously): Rolling Blackouts: Ontario appears to be in the dark over its real power needs

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[All Green agendas and Carbon agendas are just a bunch of Jewish crap to scam all of the Western World out of insane amounts of money. So now in Canada the Whites might end up having Rolling Blackouts. WTF!? If you want Rolling Blackouts come to South Africa! We have them DAILY FFS and it never stops! Jews and Liberals are just busy stuffing up Canada … that's all. The lying scum even FOOL SCIENTISTS! THIS IS A FACT! The Jews couldn't fool Hitler because he was too clever for them and he was on to them, like the American George Lincoln Rockwell was. But Jews even fool SCIENTISTS – WHITE SCIENTISTS! I've come to this conclusion. White Canadians need to get racist and take Canada back FFS. Jan]

Randall Denley: Ontario appears to be in the dark over its real power needs

The province’s ultimate goal remains decarbonisation of the electricity network, but the government’s latest moves acknowledge that having the power is more important than its source

Author of the article:Randall Denley

Publishing date:Oct 14, 2022 • 1 day ago • 3 minute read • 90 Comments

The Ford government’s wobbly electricity policy should concern Ontarians, whether their primary focus is saving the planet through an all-electric future, or just keeping the lights on.

First the government wanted to shut down a major nuclear reactor. Now it’s considering running it for another 30 years. A year ago, the energy minister asked the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to explore a moratorium on new natural gas transmission. Last week, he approved a plan to increase natural gas generation to avoid rolling blackouts.

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Back in 2020, the provincial government said the Pickering nuclear plant, which produces 14 per cent of Ontario’s power, would be closed by 2025. The new plan is to keep it open to 2026, but Energy Minister Todd Smith has asked Ontario Power Generation for a feasibility study on operating it for an additional 30 years.

As recently as late August, Smith said he didn’t think Ontario needed more natural gas generation. Now, the government has approved an increase of 1,500 megawatts, boosting gas generation capacity about 15 per cent.

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Smith was reacting to an alarming new report from the IESO, which warned that without more generating capacity “emergency actions such as conservation appeals and rotating blackouts” would be necessary to stabilize the grid.

These developments are both surprising and disconcerting. For years, Ontario’s biggest power problem was a surplus so significant that power was routinely dumped to other jurisdictions at a loss. Now, suddenly, the province is so short of power generation that it will be in trouble if new sources aren’t brought on line by 2026.

It would make a reasonable person wonder if the government and the key agency advising it really know what they are doing.

The job of the IESO is to track long-term power demand and recommend the required supply mix, and yet the province has apparently been caught so short that it has to stop the decommissioning of a nuclear plant and rush new gas plants into service. That doesn’t build confidence.

The reason the government has offered for the sudden need for new power is not overly convincing. Smith said it was due to “unprecedented” economic growth that “has surprised even Premier Ford and our team.” And yet, in the first quarter of this year, Ontario’s real gross domestic product was just 1.3 per cent above the pre-pandemic level at the end of 2019.

Ontario supposedly has to react quickly to a phantom surge in power demand, but just last December, the IESO predicted that power demand would grow at an average of just 1.7 per cent a year over the next 20 years. In its report last week, it predicted the same rate of growth.

Some blame the apparent dilemma on the PC government’s cancellation of wind and solar projects back in 2019. Would dotting the province with even more unsightly wind and solar projects have saved us? Not really. The IESO estimated the projects would provide 99 MW of capacity at peak, less than 0.5 per cent of installed grid capacity.

As the IESO makes clear in its latest report, Ontario needs power sources that can be ramped up quickly to meet peak demand. Natural gas plants can do that, intermittent wind and solar cannot.

But what about battery storage? Ontario will build 2,500 megawatts of battery capacity in addition to the new natural gas expansion. That sounds good, but the IESO points out the limitations. With current technology, batteries can only be discharged once a day, for up to four hours.

In reality, the IESO’s recommendation for more gas-fired power amounts to better safe than sorry. Ontario’s natural gas power plants are grossly underused, providing 28 per cent of generating capacity but only 8.6 per cent of power generated. At the same time, they are operating as intended, boosting power supply only at peak hours.

Despite the awkwardness of the politics and the planning, there is nothing wrong with adding additional natural gas generating capacity. It’s the prudent thing to do for Ontarians and for the economy. The extra gas power, if it’s required, would increase emissions only slightly.

The province’s ultimate goal remains decarbonisation of the electricity network, but the government’s latest moves acknowledge that having the power is more important than its source. The government is stumbling in the right direction. No doubt the Ford team realizes that it would be lights out for a government that can’t keep the lights on.

Source: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/randall-denley-ontario-appears-to-be-in-the-dark-over-its-real-power-needs