Editor,
“Boondoggle: A work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the impression of being of value.”
When you look across Canada, you find wide differences in how the Provinces and Territories source their electricity.
Quebec gets 97% of its power from hydroelectric.
Nunavut gets 100% of its power from oil.
Geography and history all play their part.
But what of Ontario?
Most of our energy comes from nuclear at 51%. Hydro provides 25%. Natural gas 10%. Wind 10%. Solar 2.5%. Other 1.5%. Coal 0%.
So basically, some 87% of our power comes from sources that can easily pump it out 24/7/365.
That leaves only 13% from intermittent sources. Sources though being favored by Government policies and subsidies have taken nearly 20 years to develop.
And what of the future?
The west faces huge future demands for electrical power. AI alone will demand power measured in the Terrawatts. Sober minds have concluded that solar and wind are simply not up to the task.
Instead, the past few years has seen an acceptance that nuclear is the only serious option for future clean, continuous, affordable power.
The incoming head of the U.S. Department of Energy is putting nuclear expansion first on his list with rapid development of Small Modular Reactors that can be built in a factory and assembled on site.
Now, the reason given for the Pumped Storage project is to make up for the intermittent nature of wind and solar power. The idea is to buy power from the grid at night when prices are low and sell it back to the grid when a boost is needed.
Here is the problem.
87% of the power that will be stored doesn’t need storing. In fact, due to buying power at night insures that no solar power will be saved. Now, its 89.5% that doesn’t need storing. And because winds generally die down at night…well, you get the idea.
Then there’s the price that will be asked to sell the power back to the grid. It will have to (1) pay off the $4.5B to $7B cost of the project (2) pay the salaries/benefits/bonuses of all involved (3) pay for maintenance/repairs (4) cover any future lawsuits (5) make up for the 20-25% loss of power due to pumping then re-generation and (6) provide a profit.
Which means you will be paying considerably more for 89.5% of the power stored that didn’t need storing in the first place.
This is one of the reasons “free” renewable electricity costs a lot more than the regular stuff.
Finally, there’s a really good chance that in future, solar and wind will have a hard time representing more than 12% of Ontario’s power. In fact, it could drop if nuclearization increases.
So, though the Pumped Storage project gives the impression of being a value, it is wasteful and perhaps pointless.
A boondoggle.
Kinder Essington, former resident of Meaford
