Although I support Green…

Although I support Green Energy in all forms, especially to avoid burning coal for power, and am thus predisposed to not like this plan, the main issue I have with it is the lack of forward thinking that it seems to exhibit. The cynic in me says that this is just a way for the Province to refuse all green-energy projects while making it seem like they’re not, only to replace things with coal once we’re in dire straits. Whether that’s unfounded or not, Ontario could be a leader in Green Energy technology, manufacturing etc – the economy of the future – but instead it appears to be back-peddling simply to reduce electricity rates. That aside, I do find myself at least not opposed to most of the changes as summarised on the Environmental Registry, but will only speak against the emphasis on proving ‘demand for electricity’. There are three reasons I oppose this emphasis:
1) The idea is to ramp-up green energy in order to phase out non-green energy, such as Natural Gas plants – so though ‘demand’ is not demonstrated, the cleaner source could displace a dirty source, which is what we need. If that means it costs more, so be it. Besides, a dirty power system will ultimately cost more, with increased health and land degradation issues to deal with, costs that go beyond the simple need to generate. I’d like to see the acts and regulations consider and allow for ‘cleaner replacement capacity’ as viable argument for ‘demand’, even though ‘higher demand’ is not necessarily met.
2) There’s an inherent lack of forward thinking: I’d like to see a commitment from the Provincial Government to look ten/twenty/thirty years ahead, when a number of nuclear reactors will be well past their life, and to start planning for projected demand, and how to handle this phase-out of current nuclear load, so we can build the capacity for that ahead of time, not rapidly, and expensively, when it’s suddenly needed. There’s no mention of this in these changes, other than a brief reference to the IESO conducting a study, and maybe green stuff will be included if… I’m fine with the province requiring proponents of a project to argue that themselves, but the Province needs to know for itself what to expect, and have a plan, or at least a framework, in place to meet that.
3) Province-wide demand is different than local demand: a lot of the projects on the potential chopping block with this change are remotely located, including in a number in Indigenous communities. Across the grid, yes: rarely does demand come close to capacity right now, but for a community outside of Southern Ontario, does it not make more sense to generate closer to home, rather than transmitting from so far away and dealing with all that line-loss? It’s not an efficient way to provide power. Projects in remote communities can make them less reliant on the main grid, and thus free-up generating capacity at the big plants, which could allow for a phase-out of a reactor (for example) once it reaches its life-end, rather than an expensive replacement or refurbishment of that reactor to meet the new demand. Once again, look at it all, not just demand now, not just power rates now.
I do appreciate the regulations regarding electricity consumption information to ensure all users have the ability to analyse what they use and why, and look for ways to save money/power themselves, regardless of where rates are. I also like the adjustments to remove legal hurdles for roof or wall mounted solar panels and other green energy systems on buildings.