Ontario should continue to…

Ontario should continue to source most of its power from non-emitting sources, as it does today. I strongly support continuing to service the bulk of the grid's base load (the load below which demand never dips) with nuclear power generation, which is a clean, safe, and stable source of power. The province should also pivot towards wind/solar plus pumped hydro storage in the longer term to service the variable load, which is currently serviced by gas fired plants.

In 2026, the Pickering nuclear plant will be decommissioned and Ontario will lose 3 gigawatts of always-on power generation. Unfortunately, there is no replacement in the pipeline, and this is a serious problem. We will have no alternative but to make up that shortfall by burning more gas, and even building new gas fired plants.

If the province does not plan to refurbish Pickering, and unless the cost of renewables+storage or building 9 more 300MW SMRs like the one at Darlington is lower, then the province needs to initiate the process of siting and building a new large-scale nuclear generating station right now. The longer we wait, the more gas we will have to burn to keep the lights on.