New nuclear reactor at Darlington to help with hydro supply, prices: Smith
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Ontario’s plan to stabilize electricity prices for the long-term includes a new small modular reactor (SMR) now under construction at the Darlington Nuclear site, Energy Minister Todd Smith says.
Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s annual report released Wednesday found that the ongoing government subsidy of electricity rates in Ontario has not lowered costs in the system, just shifted them from hydro users to all taxpayers.
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“Clearly, what we’re dealing with is the hangover from the Liberal era which drove electricity prices through the roof,” Smith said Friday at the modular reactor groundbreaking in Clarington. “You all remember the solar contracts that were signed at 80 cents/kWh when facilities like this were producing reliable electricity, clean, efficient electricity, at 8 to 9 cents/kWh?”
The SMR will be the province’s first nuclear reactor built in a “generation” and will deliver 300 MW of electricity or enough to power 300,000 homes, the government says.
Investments like this will help keep electricity rates stable after years of large increases under the previous government, Smith said.
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“We’re ensuring with the programs that we have in place under the guidance of our Premier (Doug Ford) and my colleagues who are here today, that we have stable electricity prices, and as a matter of fact, well below the rate of inflation every year … ensuring a reliable, affordable, clean, safe electricity system for the residents of our province, (and) those who are looking to invest in our province,” he said.
Lysyk noted in her report that Ontario has not released a comprehensive long-term energy plan since 2017, just before the Ford government took power.
“With no authority to provide input or oversight of the province’s long-term energy planning process, it is difficult for the (Ontario Energy Board) to protect consumer interests,” Lysyk said in a statement. “Given the challenging period the electricity sector is approaching in Ontario, filling this gap will be critically important.”
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