Environmental groups are pushing back on plans to upgrade a natural gas plant just west of Newmarket.
The Independent Energy System Operator (IESO) listed the York Energy Centre in King among gas plants to receive upgrades over the next several years. The upgrades are slated to add 38 megawatts to the 393-megawatt average generating capacity of the facility.
The IESO has said this is an efficiency upgrade equivalent to a “tune-up.” But organizations like the Ontario Clean Energy Alliance say investing in these fuels is wrong-headed.
“It’s climate lunacy,” alliance chair Jack Gibbons said. “It makes absolutely no sense to expand the size of the King Township plant, when we (have) much cleaner and lower-cost options to keep our lights on.”
The upgrade will involve the replacement of parts with more advanced technology, such as a cooling fan, according to operator Capital Power. The work is scheduled for a maintenance outage in 2025.
The upgrade is one of several that garnered approval from the IESO at gas plants across the province, along with contract extensions for continued power generation. The St. Clair Energy Centre in St. Clair Township was also part of the announcement.
Environmental organizations are unhappy with the direction. Advocacy organization Environmental Defence said the province does not need any more fossil gas.
“The province needs to face the reality that the only way forward is to focus on building clean electricity projects like wind and solar,” Environmental Defence said in a news release.
“We can avoid the need for new-gas-fired generation by investing in energy efficiency and demand management,” Gibbons said, citing a report from RBC that said the province could manage through conservation over investing in fossil-fuel energy sources to meet immediate rising demand.
Capital Power manager of Indigenous and stakeholder engagement Jay Shukin said this work will be within the existing facility footprint, with no physical earthwork required. He said the plant as a whole exists to ensure power grid reliability, running on an “as needed” basis.
There “has been significant progress in expanding renewables over the last decade, but we are still not yet at the stage where renewables will meet society’s needs on a continuous basis,” Shukin said, adding that the company itself has a target of net-zero emissions by 2045.
IESO supervisor of media relations and editorial services Andrew Dow said the recent procurement will be a “cost-effective and timely solution” to reliability needs with a limited impact on emissions.
“Natural gas is uniquely positioned to allow the system to keep pace with a growing and decarbonizing economy, as there is currently no like-for-like replacement for the operational reliability and flexibility that it provides,” Dow said. “This generation will help us transition through a period where nuclear refurbishments are underway, emerging technologies mature, and new non-emitting supply is added to the grid.”
Both Environmental Defence and Ontario Clean Air Alliance also raised issues with a lack of municipal resolution supporting the upgrades, Minister of Energy Todd Smith issued a directive that a “proposed project located in that municipality” should get a resolution of support first. But Shukin said the upgrade is through a different procurement stream not requiring municipal resolution.
Gibbons said the government needs to focus more on upgrading renewable sources like wind and solar power.
“We’re going in the absolute wrong direction. We’re not doing what’s best,” Gibbons said.
