page_title: Electricity sector in Canada
section_title: Ontario
hierarchical_section_title: Electricity sector in Canada / Provinces / Ontario
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial photo of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station near Kincardine Ontario. Photo by Chuck Szmurlo taken March 15, 2006 with a Nikon D70 and a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 lens.
context_page_description: The electricity sector in Canada has played a significant role in the economic and political life of the country since the late 19th century. The sector is organized along provincial and territorial lines. In a majority of provinces, large government-owned integrated public utilities play a leading role in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. Ontario and Alberta have created electricity markets in the last decade in order to increase investment and competition in this sector of the economy.
  Hydroelectricity accounted for 59% of all electric generation in Canada in 2016, making Canada the world's second-largest producer of hydroelectricity after China. Since 1960, large hydroelectric projects, especially in Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, have significantly increased the country's generation capacity.
  The second-largest single source of power is nuclear power, with several plants in Ontario generating more than half of that province's electricity, and one generator in New Brunswick. This makes Canada the world's sixth-largest producer of electricity generated by nuclear power, producing 95 TWh in 2017.
context_section_description: Electricity is generated in Ontario from nuclear power, hydroelectric power, natural gas and renewables such as wind, solar and biomass. Total production in 2017 was 132.1 TWh (i.e. 132.1 billion kWh.) The various sources of generation used in 2017 are shown in the pie chart to the right. In April 2014, Ontario eliminated coal as a source of electricity generation. The generation mix for the current hour can be viewed at the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) webpage.
  As noted above, total electricity production in Ontario 2017 was 132.1 TWh. Adding imports of 6.6 TWh and subtracting exports of 19.1 TWh leaves 119.6 TWh usage within Ontario. With an estimated 2017 population of 14,193,384, electricity usage per person in Ontario in 2017 was 9,307 kWh per year, or about 60% of the Canadian average shown in the table Electricity per person and by power source displayed earlier in this article. (Note that this number includes all use—commercial, industrial and institutional use as well as household use—and it is at the point of production, i.e. before subtracting transmission and distribution losses.) Usage per person in Ontario may be lower than the national average because natural gas is more widely available and has a significant cost advantage for heating.
  Ontario has been considered a summer peaking grid since 2000, however due to particularly cold winter temperatures and moderate summer temperatures, Ontario was winter peaking in 2014. In its 18-Month Outlook issued September 2014, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) predicts a winter 2014–2015 peak of 22,149 MW under a normal weather scenario, and a summer 2015 peak of 22,808 MW, also under a normal weather scenario. The all-time record for Ontario demand was set on August 1, 2006, when peak demand for electricity reached 27,005 megawatts. (See 2006 North American heat wave.)
  Overall, Ontario is a net exporter of electricity. Ontario imports electricity, primarily from its neighbouring provinces of Quebec and Manitoba (both of which are primarily hydroelectric systems), and exports electricity, primarily to Michigan and New York State, which rely heavily on fossil fuels—coal in the case of Michigan, and natural gas in the case of New York.
  In 2017, Ontario's gross exports were 19.1 TWh, i.e. roughly equal to half its hydro generation of 37.7 TWh in 2017. (Although Canada is the world's third-largest producer of natural gas, Ontario imports natural gas from the United States and from western Canada.) If all the carbon emissions associated with natural gas-fueled generation were allocated to the exports, almost all the electricity consumed within Ontario would be from non-carbon or carbon neutral sources. (Note however that the natural gas generation is not necessarily coincident with exports and natural gas plants sometimes need to be operated due to regional transmission constraints, and as backup for wind generation which is intermittent and somewhat unpredictable.)
  Ontario embraced nuclear power in the 1970s and 1980s, building 3 major nuclear facilities and 18 CANDU reactors, which in 2013 provided 59% of the province's electricity production, or kilowatt-hours equal to 65% of the electricity consumed within the province. The completion of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in 1993, "at a cost several times the original estimates", caused huge rate increases and a reassessment of Ontario's electricity policy. Three major policy documents, the Advisory Committee on Competition in Ontario's Electricity System (1996), chaired by former federal minister Donald Macdonald, a government White Paper on electricity policy (1997) and the Market Design Committee report (1999) paved the way for a major overhaul of the industry.
  In April 1999, Ontario Hydro was split into five successor companies: Ontario Power Generation (OPG), in charge of generation; Hydro One, a transmission and distribution utility; the Independent Market Operator, responsible for the operation of a deregulated wholesale electric market in the province; the Electrical Saf
caption: The Bruce Nuclear Generating Station near Kincardine, is the world's largest nuclear station with an installed capacity of 7,276 MW (gross).
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