I believe as the Pickering…

I believe as the Pickering retirement nears a strong consideration should be given to a renewal of the contracts for the CES combined cycle assets.  By this time these assets will have been paid for but still have considerable life in them, which makes them cost effective to continue running. These assets have the ability to provide power intermittently whenever their is a large demand or other forms of generation are unable to perform.  They are able to sit idle for long periods and still be available to provide large amounts of power in short notice with great reliability.  The power they supply is flexible and responsive to the load demand.

Local generation is also an important consideration versus importing power from outside the province.  The salary and supply chain costs of local generation stays within our economy whereas imported power (generally more expensive) is money that leaves our economy.

I also believe as we consider the Long Term Energy Plan with respect to emissions, all sources of emission should be considered.  Ontario has already invested over $20 billion dollars to reduce emissions in the power sector to the point where fossil burning (natural gas) only accounts for 10% of the generation in the province.  We need to consciously consider whether the resources and dollars to reduce the remaining emissions in the power section would not achieve better reductions in other areas such as industry, transportation or domestic use.  Let's get the best bang for our dollar.

[Original Comment ID: 202810]