{"id":27875,"date":"2014-07-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ashleydev.com\/2014\/07\/24\/buying-power-from-quebec-opportunity-mugged-by-reality\/"},"modified":"2020-08-27T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T15:41:15","slug":"buying-power-from-quebec-opportunity-mugged-by-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cna.ca\/fr\/2014\/07\/24\/buying-power-from-quebec-opportunity-mugged-by-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying Power from Quebec: Opportunity Mugged by&nbsp;Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Dr. John Barrett<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>President and CEO<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Canadian Nuclear Association<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Over recent months, a number of opinion pieces have appeared in Canadian newspapers advocating an Ontario Clean Air Alliance call for Ontario to cancel nuclear refurbishment plans in favour of purchasing what they call \u201ccheap\u201d electricity from Quebec. In response to this, Canadian Nuclear Association President John Barrett has written an opinion piece appearing in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2014\/07\/23\/buying_power_from_quebec_opportunity_mugged_by_reality.html\">yesterday&#8217;s Toronto Star<\/a> explaining why such a proposal ignores the realities of Ontario\u2019s power system.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At first glance, the idea of bringing electricity from Quebec into Ontario makes sense. After all, Ontario\u2019s electricity prices are rising; Quebec already exports vast quantities of electricity to the New England states.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-story float-clear\" style=\"color: #000000;\">\n<div class=\"article-story-body\">\n<div class=\"body parsys\">\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>However, the\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0072bc;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cleanairalliance.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ontario Clean Air Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(OCAA) and its Quebec ally, Equiterre need to do their homework before pressing this case much farther. Their argument to replace Ontario nuclear power with Quebec hydroelectric power ignores the value that nuclear power provides to the province. It also overlooks the realities of Ontario\u2019s power system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>Ontario\u2019s nuclear plants produce power safely and reliably every day around the clock. Refurbishing the Bruce and Darlington plants will extend their lives for decades, providing an economical, long-term supply of clean electricity for Ontario. Refurbishing 10 reactors also means Ontario will create thousands of jobs within the province.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>The reality of an Ontario-Quebec power deal is that it will be purely commercial. Quebec is a very sharp and tough contractor for whom electric power is a rock-hard commercial business. There will not be any nation-building discounts or new Fathers of Confederation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>If you doubt this, consult the power authorities in Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1969, they signed a generation contract with Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec that drove power prices steadily lower over 65 years. Even the onset of massive inflation \u2013 the general price level has jumped more than 500 per cent since 1969, according to the Bank of Canada \u2013 brought no upward adjustment in the price Newfoundland receives for its power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>The six New England states buy electricity from Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec through their Independent System Operator (ISO-NE). Since the start of this year, wholesale power contracts for this New England grid have averaged $100 per megawatt-hour \u2013 roughly a dime per kilowatt-hour. OCAA and Equiterre suggest that Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec would sell power to Ontario at 5.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. Why should Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec accept that price when it can get almost twice as much from New England?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>Even if Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec cut a special deal for Ontario, the needed infrastructure does not exist. Ontario built its electrical grid with self-sufficiency in mind, and its ability to meet electrical demand in Toronto depends on the wires that would carry power from Quebec.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>Imagine that Ontario imported all the electricity from Quebec that it could. Interprovincial connections can carry 2,545 MW, or about 70 per cent of the capacity of the Darlington nuclear generating station. But once it crossed the provincial border, Quebec\u2019s electricity would travel through Ottawa on power lines that more resemble a one-lane cart path than a four-lane highway. Upgrading these lines would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and raise power bills accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>Even if Ontario upgraded its lines, however, there remains the issue of Quebec\u2019s export reliability. Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec would not meet Ontario\u2019s needs year-round.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>In a May 22 letter to Ontario\u2019s system operator, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec writes, \u201ccommitment periods need to take seasonal diversity into account.\u201d Quebecers heat with electricity, making winter the season of peak power demand. Feeling a capacity squeeze last winter, and the winter before, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec asked its customers to turn down their thermostats. Even now, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec is issuing contracts to buy power for the next four winters. This hardly sounds like a reliable, year-round power supplier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>What can we learn from these realities? Do the homework, and don\u2019t jump at too-good-to-be-true options.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>There are reasons Ontario built its power system the way it did. It sought energy security and self-sufficiency. Ontario could have built a grid that relied on Quebec imports. Instead, it chose nuclear. Along the way, it gained a nuclear industry that has created thousands of jobs in Ontario.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text combinedtext parbase section\">\n<p>Nuclear-generated electricity was the right choice for Ontario decades ago. It remains the right choice today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr. John Barrett President and CEO Canadian Nuclear Association Over recent months, a number of opinion pieces have appeared in Canadian newspapers advocating an Ontario Clean Air Alliance call for Ontario to cancel nuclear refurbishment plans in favour of purchasing what they call \u201ccheap\u201d electricity from Quebec. In response to this, Canadian Nuclear Association [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[537],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-27875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-talknuclear"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Buying Power from Quebec: Opportunity Mugged by Reality - Association nucl\u00e9aire canadienne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cna.ca\/fr\/2014\/07\/24\/buying-power-from-quebec-opportunity-mugged-by-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buying Power from Quebec: Opportunity Mugged by Reality - Association nucl\u00e9aire canadienne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Dr. John Barrett President and CEO Canadian Nuclear Association Over recent months, a number of opinion pieces have appeared in Canadian newspapers advocating an Ontario Clean Air Alliance call for Ontario to cancel nuclear refurbishment plans in favour of purchasing what they call \u201ccheap\u201d electricity from Quebec. 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