Ontario's insistence on building gas plants means the province risks being left behind as the world embraces affordable renewable energy. (Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS)
This is an extraordinary moment for renewable electricity.
Solar and wind power have never been cheaper, they’re enjoying technological breakthroughs that greatly boost their efficiency and their worldwide growth is astounding. Smart money in Ontario and around the globe is abandoning fossil fuels not just because of the climate crisis but because renewables make so much business sense.
The Pembina Institute says that, in many places in Canada, clean energy (including wind, solar, demand-side management, energy efficiency and storage) is now less expensive than gas-fired. In Alberta, for example, the cost of power at a combined cycle gas plant is $57 per MWh, while the cost for clean energy is just $48.
These findings are consistent with data from other experts. The think tank Clean Energy Canada found that, “In Alberta and Ontario, wind can now produce electricity at lower costs than natural-gas-fired power…” In a statement released in May, The Atmospheric Fund said that in Ontario wind and solar are “the cheapest sources of new supply.”
In Alberta and Ontario, wind can now produce electricity at lower costs than natural-gas-fired power…
Not surprisingly, solar cells are becoming more efficient. A recent article in the Guardian says scientists working in the field have just made an important breakthrough. Stefaan De Wolf of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology calls 2023 a “revolutionary year.”
The Guardian explains the advance in solar efficiency this way: “The breakthrough is adding a layer of perovskite, another semiconductor, on top of the silicon layer. This captures blue light from the visible spectrum, while the silicon captures red light, boosting the total light captured overall. With more energy absorbed per cell, the cost of solar electricity is even cheaper, and deployment can proceed faster…”
In a report tracking progress made in 2022, the International Energy Agency says renewables just keep breaking growth records: “Renewable electricity capacity additions rose to 340 gigawatts (GW), their largest ever deployment … Investment in clean energy reached a record USD 1.6 trillion in 2022…”
2024 could well become the first year in which more electricity is generated worldwide from renewables than from coal.
And the IEA’s “Electricity Market Report,” released in July, proclaimed that, “depending on weather conditions, 2024 could well become the first year in which more electricity is generated worldwide from renewables than from coal.” What an extraordinary milestone that would be!
Especially impressive, says the IEA, is the growth in solar: “Solar PV generated a record of nearly 1 300 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2022, up 26% from 2021 and logging the largest absolute generation growth of all renewable technologies in 2022 … ”
If Ontario wants to enjoy this upsurge in renewable electricity, it’s crucial that fossil-fuelled generation doesn’t get in the way. The federal government is now working on its clean electricity regulations — supported by 71 per cent of Canadians! — and we need to ensure they phase out all gas- and coal-fired power by 2035.
Ontario is planning to expand its gas plants and build new ones. This is a massive threat to the affordability and economic benefits that renewables could provide. Every resident — especially members of the business community — should urge Ottawa to put the brakes on Ontario’s gas-plant buildout and require winding down of fossils on the grid. As the IEA said in July, “Now is the time for policy makers and the private sector to build on this momentum [of renewables] to ensure emissions from the power sector go into sustained decline.”
If we care about saving money — not to mention saving the planet — we must insist that Ontario be powered by wind, water and sun in short order.
If we care about saving money — not to mention saving the planet — we must insist that Ontario be powered by wind, water and sun in short order.
Gideon Forman is a climate change policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation.
This op-ed was originally published in the Toronto Star.
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