This letter was submitted in response to a proposal by TC Energy to build a hydroelectric pumped storage facility in Meaford on the military base lands. CollingwoodToday welcomes letters to the editor. They can be emailed to [email protected].
**********************
Dear editor,
The data is in. Ontario is generating more hydro than we are using.
In a Sept. 3 press release, Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) stood together and reported: “The restrictions COVID-19 has imposed on economic activity are already having an impact on Ontario’s electricity consumption,” said Sandro Perruzza, CEO of OSPE.
The press release further states: “Ontario Power Generation reported that in the first quarter of 2020, hydroelectric curtailment (waste) increased by 130 per cent. This will continue for the duration of the pandemic, ultimately resulting in a significant increase in the amount of curtailment in 2020. Despite high Ontario system demand peaks such as those on some hours of the day in July 2020, there remains many, many hours during the year with surplus generation that is either curtailed or exported at low prices which is a wasted economic and environmental opportunity.”
The press release goes on to propose re-allocating surplus energy by way of price reform, and solutions like:
- displacing fossil fuel consumption for consumer’s heating needs
- growing Ontario’s fleet of electric vehicles
- creating clean hydrogen for Ontario’s industrial sector
- and creating hydrogen-powered vehicles
The Liberal government is on board too. The throne speech on Sept. 23 highlighted a commitment to climate change with tax incentives for green energy tech, retrofitting homes, and protecting one quarter of the country’s lands and oceans. I’ll take that to include Georgia Bay?
We have entered a new global era. Scientists call it the Anthropocene (remember Pleistocene, Holocene) defined by consuming our natural resources faster than the earth can regenerate its ecosystem. If you believe in climate change, the data points to the demise of life as we know it. Sure, humans can adapt. But how and at what cost?
We don’t need a pumped storage facility. We need to change our relationship with energy, at home and at work.
TCEnergy’s Pumped Storage project is a backward direction for change. It's wrong because it only allows us to squander energy with our old habits.
Caryn Colman
Meaford, ON
**********************
