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Power politics
Premier Dalton McGuinty says he’s prepared to be judged by voters as his government gets set to announce controversial new nuclear power projects.
"I look forward to being judged on that," McGuinty said yesterday.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan will formally respond to the Ontario Power Authority’s energy supply report today, explaining how the province will meet its electricity needs over the next two decades.
Grits will push nuclear option
Toronto: An Ottawa-area site will be among locations considered for new nuclear reactors as the government embarks on a multi-billion-dollar strategy to tackle a potential electricity shortage, sources say.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan will approve the Ontario Power Authority’s December recommendation that roughly half the province’s electricity should be powered by nuclear reactors 20 years from now – the same share nuclear holds today.
The Liberals won’t tell the OPA where they think plants should be built.
New nukes to light up province
The Ontario government is flicking the switch on a $46-billion electricity plan that will see refurbished and new nuclear reactors and continued coal-fired generation.
Seven Greenpeace anti-nuke activists wasted no time yesterday chaining themselves together in Energy Minister Dwight Duncan’s office. Just after 7 p.m. officials moved in to cut the locks of the protesters.
Duncan announced the overhaul of four existing units at Pickering B and the construction of one or two new reactors at an existing nuclear plant to be named later.
Court battle likely over energy plan
The province faces a long, tough slog – and court battles – over the nuclear power plan it announced yesterday.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan appeared to skip nimbly over the issue of environmental assessments and other reviews of his decision to build or refurbish nuclear reactors able to generate up to 14,000 megawatts of electricity.
But even without opposition, the footing would be tricky.
And critics suggest they’ll do their best to trip him up.
Province juiced by energy plan
Toronto: The province is flicking the switch on a $46-billion electricity plan that will see refurbished and new nuclear reactors and continued coal-fired generation.
Seven Greenpeace anti-nuke activists wasted no time yesterday chaining themselves together in Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan’s office. Officials moved in to cut the locks of the protesters last night.
New reactors key to Ontario power plan
A blueprint to avert Ontario’s looming electricity crisis sets "aggressive" targets for energy conservation and clean, renewable power over the next 20 years, but nuclear power will continue to play a major and expensive role.
The province’s plan calls for building one or two new reactors at an existing site, likely Darlington, at a cost of $2 billion to $3 billion, and examining the feasibility of refurbishing existing nuclear units.
Energy misers may get break
Households and small businesses that use 10 per cent less electricity this summer would get a 10 per cent discount on their hydro bills under an ambitious conservation program being proposed by Toronto Hydro Corp.
The utility has asked the Ontario Energy Board for permission to launch its $5.6 million 10/10 program on July 15. If approved later this month, half-a-million Toronto Hydro-Electric System customers would be automatically enrolled in the three-month pilot, which is modelled after a similar initiative proven effective in California.
Ontario swelters
The sweltering heat blanketing much of Southern Ontario pushed electricity consumption to its highest level this summer, forcing the province to rely on power from the United States.
Demand for power peaked at 25,898 megawatts yesterday afternoon, within striking distance of the record high of 26,160 megawatts in July, 2005.
The province’s electricity manager issued an emergency alert at 1:15 p.m., saying it had maxed out its own generating capacity and would be importing power from Michigan, New York and Quebec.
Son of Ontario Hydro starting to make good: a response
Re: "Son of Ontario Hydro starting to make good," July 19, 2006
To support his argument that Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has turned around its history of bad behaviour, Ian Urquhart claims that OPG’s credit rating has been upgraded and it has completed the refurbishment of Pickering 1 within $100 million of budget. The first claim sounds important but is really empty praise and the second claim is wrong.
Energy conservation schemes a tough sell with public
Toronto: As temperatures soar across the country, Canadians are being reminded to dim the lights, turn down the air conditioning and join provincial governments in embracing a culture of energy conservation.
But while most critics agree people have good intentions, they say preserving the country’s fragile electricity resources is still relatively low on the national priority list.
Energy Probe 