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Coal-fired Power Plants To Stay Open
#1
Coal-fired power plants to stay open
CTV.ca News Staff

New predictions for electricity supplies in Ontario mean the government's promise to close two coal-fired power plants will have to be delayed, according to the group that monitors the provincial electricity system.

The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) admitted Friday that the forecast revisions mean coal burning generators will need to operate longer than the McGuinty government had promised.

In a report released Friday, the IESO said increasing electrical demand in Ontario makes the delay necessary.

"What we are saying in our report, we've identified a need for a significant delay in the shutdown of the coal facilities," IESO spokesperson Terry Young said.

Young blamed the increasing use of air conditioners for the spikes in electricity demand. He said the IESO used the latest power demand information to rework the forecasts.

"That's an increasing impact that we've seen over the last few years and what we're now doing is revising our forecast to the planning assumptions we use in determining those forecasts to incorporate some of these recent experiences over the summer."

The IESO also cited the need for more resources in the system and pointed to delays in bringing replacement generation on-line.

"As a result of the change in planning assumptions, there is a 2,500 to 3,000 megawatt overall increase to forecast resource requirements over that previously identified,'' the IESO report said.

One fifth of Ontario's electricity supply is generated by burning coal. But there are concerns about air pollution and the resulting smog that forms.

Pollution was behind the election promise to close the generating stations, but three of the plants slated to be mothballed next year have about 2,500 megawatts of capacity.

The IESO report recommended that the Lambton station near Sarnia remain open for longer. It also recommended that the Nanticoke plant in southwestern Ontario remain open beyond the scheduled closing date of 2009.

The Nanticoke station has often been referred to as the province's worst polluter.

Government sources told The Canadian Press that the changes in IESO forecasts are causing "tension'' among the governing Liberals because it may force them to delay for a second time the closures promised in their 2003 election platform.

One source said the IESO grossly underestimated daily demand patterns last summer by comparing them to winter, when a peak early morning period is followed by a steady decline throughout the day.

In reality, hot weather forces air conditioners to operate almost all day, making the peak daily period in summer that much longer.

The source also said the IESO miscalculated how much supply can be generated from hydroelectric dams during summer as water levels recede over the day.

Young does not agree with the assertion that forecasting changes involved errors and miscalculations. He said the government knew about the changes months ago.

"What's happened is that last fall, after the summer, we told stakeholders and market participants that we were going to be looking at the planning assumptions around demand, and hydroelectric, given the experiences of the summer," Young told The Canadian Press

"The error would have been if we hadn't done it."

With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press


I was the only member on this board with a Yellow Focus Sedan, and a 2002+ Euro Facelift on a sedan.
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#2
I saw this in the paper yesterday. Doesn't surprise me one bit, when i worked for OPG no one believed they would close the 2 big coal fired plants. Its just not feasible, not right now anyways. Maybe in 15 years down the road if they ever build some new nukes, but until then coal power will be a fact of life in Ontario.
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#3
If they would get off their asses and implement rebates for people that want to do grid intertie (like myself), we could have a whack of solar and solar/wind implementations that would only serve to lower our overall dependence on all forms of externally-generated power.

Plus, grid intertie systems don't need batteries. Obviously, a solar-only system works only during the day but the vast amount of load is during daylight hours anyways.
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#4
Solar and wind might lower our reliance on out of province energy, which would be a good thing, cuz everytime we import power we get rapped. That also being said, to generate any sort of meaningful power from solar requires a huge investment, that at todays hydro rates, is next to impossible to make back. On small scales in homes and small businesses its not a bad thing, but anything bigger than that, and its a complete waste of money.

The Canadian Center for Inland Waters in Burlington put in a huge solar cell on the roof, and when i worked it out, its like 100yrs to pay off the initial cost investment. And thats assuming bright sun, every day. So either hydro rates must go up to pay for the more expensive clean power, or the government must subsidize the cleaner power technologies to make it more cost affordable.
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#5
I liken it to a smarter way to waste money. I can upgrade my home theatre, buy more toys for the car, buy a new car or just be a little more environmentally responsible.

Plus, it's ultimately portable and expandable. I can take it all down and move it to a new house, I can add batteries (not environmentally responsible, I know) and live "off the grid". There's a lot of choices to be had.

Solar panels (the good ones) are normally warranted in excess of 20 years on the larger panels... that's 80W per panel or more. I don't min investing when I can haul them from house to house and make each place more self-sufficient.
Daily driver 1: 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport "S"

33" BFG Mud-Terrain KM2s, lots of Rough Country gear - bumper, 2.5" lift, swaybar disconnects, Superwinch 10,000lb winch, Detroit Locker in rear D44 axle, custom exhaust, K+N filtercharger, Superchips-tuned.

Daily driver 2: 2006 Subaru Legacy GT

COBB Stage 1+ package - AccessPort tuner, COBB intake and airbox. Stage 2 coming shortly - COBB 3" AT stainless DP and race cat, custom 3" Magnaflow-based exhaust and Stage 2 COBB tune.
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