The twin smokestacks at the Port Lands will be belching out more smoke more often in the coming years, increasing air pollution in downtown 海角社区官网and ramping up carbon emissions, as the gas plant has been given the go-ahead to boost its electricity generation.
And it鈥檚 happening in the face of city council鈥檚 opposition, despite a provincial pledge to obtain local permission before proceeding. 海角社区官网City Council opposing any new natural-gas generation in the city only days before last week鈥檚 provincial announcement.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really unfortunate that they鈥檙e just proceeding anyway,鈥 said Coun. Paula Fletcher, who co-wrote the motion. 鈥淭his is a very large plant and it will be running far more frequently. It鈥檚 not really the direction we should be going in the climate crisis.鈥
When the call went out for new power generation last fall, Energy Minister Todd Smith put an explicit requirement on all proposals, saying they could not from local municipal councils.
鈥淭his municipality did not agree,鈥 Fletcher said.
The province had put out an RFP (request for proposal) for more generation, and some existing plants were granted expanded generation under the RFP. But the resulting increased emissions at the Port Lands plant 鈥 Toronto鈥檚 largest source of greenhouse gas emissions 鈥 will make it harder for the city to meet its TransformTO pledge to reach net zero by 2040.
Fletcher said it fits into a wider pattern of the province overruling Toronto, from Ontario Place to Ministerial Zoning Orders.
鈥淏y now we鈥檝e learned that Premier Ford and his government treats 海角社区官网as an extension of Queen鈥檚 Park, where they feel they can do whatever they want,鈥 she said. 鈥淓verything that they do flies in the face of the direction that our city has taken.鈥
The Port Lands is one of six gas plants with planned expansions and upgrades that will provide additional peaking power during the hottest summer days to help curb the province鈥檚 anticipated electricity shortfall. The plant has also extended its contract by five years, ensuring gas will remain on the 海角社区官网waterfront until April 2034.
(In addition to the Port Lands, two other GTA gas plants 鈥 in Brampton and Halton Hills 鈥 will also see capacity upgrades.)
In an email to the Star, Energy Minister spokesperson Michael Dodsworth said the plant expansions in Windsor and Sarnia received support from local councils as promised. But because the upgrades at the GTA plants, characterized as 鈥渢une ups,鈥 do not require 鈥渘ew construction,鈥 they鈥檙e 鈥渃onsistent with the Minister鈥檚 direction.鈥
The additional gas-fuelled power generation undermines efforts to reduce emissions across the province, said Sarah Buchanan, campaigns director for the 海角社区官网Environmental Alliance.
鈥淲e are already facing an uphill battle to meet looming climate change targets,鈥 she said. 鈥淥ne of the biggest hurdles really is just that the grid is getting dirtier when it鈥檚 supposed to be getting cleaner.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really frustrating to see Toronto鈥檚 climate plans completely undermined by these energy decisions.鈥
As demand for power rose and nuclear plants got taken offline, , according to the federal government鈥檚 national inventory of emissions.
The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) said it expects 200,000 to 400,000 additional tonnes of emissions per year from new gas generation provincewide.
It鈥檚 not just a matter of increased carbon emissions, but one of local air pollution, said Ontario Clean Air Alliance Chair Jack Gibbons.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fossil fuel plant and it produces pollutants that are harmful to our health,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ecause (the plant operates) to meet our peak demands, it will be ramped up on the hottest summer days, which are also the smoggiest days. It鈥檚 making air pollution worse on our worst air pollution days.鈥
Gibbons noted that prevailing winds in 海角社区官网come from the southwest, blowing the over Scarborough, where some of the city鈥檚 most disadvantaged people live.
Tom Patterson, director of energy management at Atura Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation that runs the Port Lands and Halton Hills gas plants, said the upgrades will make the plants more efficient.
鈥淔or substantially the same amount of fuel, we will be getting more power output from the facility,鈥 he said.
Projections by IESO show an increased reliance on gas plants in the coming years, as nuclear plants are taken out of service for refurbishment or retirement.
Soon, they will run not just during peak demand, as they do currently. This year, gas plants are expected to operate 24 per cent of the time. By 2026, that is projected to be 81 per cent. In 2041, it鈥檒l 100 per cent of the time, according to IESO.
Patterson acknowledged that gas plants create carbon emissions, but said they also let other sectors of the economy with bigger carbon footprints decarbonize by switching their operations to electricity.
Electrification of the steel smelters in Sault Ste. Marie, is a good example of this, because electric arc furnaces running on Ontario鈥檚 grid 鈥 90 per cent of which comes from non-emitting sources 鈥 will replace coal-burning coke ovens.
Patterson said gas peaker plants will likely continue to play a role, even in the federal government鈥檚 plan for a net-zero grid by 2035.
鈥淣et zero is an ongoing conversation,鈥 he said. 鈥淔rom our perspective, that doesn鈥檛 mean we go to absolute zero on the electricity grid.鈥
Bryan Purcell, vice-president of policy and programs at The Atmospheric Fund, says keeping gas on the grid as an emergency backup is reasonable, but that鈥檚 not what鈥檚 happening in Ontario.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a deepening commitment to ramping up natural gas generation, taking us in the wrong direction,鈥 he said.
Emissions on the grid have more than doubled in the past five years and are on a trajectory to double again by 2033.
鈥淭he pace that electricity sector emissions are rising is going to offset a lot of the gains made elsewhere,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a little further behind every year.鈥
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