Ontario to boost power generation

Province to choose projects based on 'affordability'

- ROB FERGUSON

Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said renewable energy will be a part of the new approach.

Ontario is touting protections for farmland and the possibility of more carbon-free power as it seeks proposals for 5,000 megawatts of electricity generation — enough to power five million homes.

“The message we’re sending today is renewables are very much part of this,” Energy and Electrification Minister Stephen Lecce said Wednesday in a switch from Premier Doug Ford’s decision to cancel 758 green energy projects after taking office in 2018.

Lecce added the approach to the electricity procurement is “technology-agnostic” with officials ready to weigh proposals using “affordability” as the main determinant to avoid shocks on consumers’ hydro bills.

“Ontario must produce more affordable energy to keep up” with a fast-growing population and electrification needs fuelled by electric vehicles and artificial intelligence and data services, he said at a farm in King City, north of Toronto.