Ontario proposes revamp of long-term energy planning

Key Takeaways:

• Ontario’s proposed Protect Ontario by Securing Affordable Energy for Generations Act would, for the first time, direct the province’s two main energy agencies to make job creation and investment attraction explicit priorities, folding economic development into every major power-planning decision.
• With electricity demand forecast to rise 75 % by 2050 — driven largely by a wave of data-centre projects that could equal nearly 30 % of today’s peak load — the bill seeks to let regulators screen those facilities and green-light only the ones that deliver high-value jobs and keep Canadian data inside Canada.
• The legislation would also expand funding tools for new nuclear and hydrogen projects and let utilities spend ratepayer dollars to exclude “hostile foreign” suppliers.

The Whole Story:

The Ontario government has introduced legislation that would weave economic development, cybersecurity and hydrogen production into the province’s long-term energy planning.

The Protect Ontario by Securing Affordable Energy for Generations Act, 2025 would give the Independent Electricity System Operator and the Ontario Energy Board a new, explicit mandate to pursue projects that create jobs and attract investment. It also proposes letting utilities spend ratepayer dollars to bar “hostile foreign participants” from Ontario’s electricity sector and to prioritise Canadian-made equipment.

Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the bill is a response to an expected 75 % jump in electricity demand over the next quarter-century — the equivalent of powering four-and-a-half Torontos — as more people plug in electric vehicles, heat pumps and data centres. “As global competition intensifies, energy demand surges, and affordability becomes more important than ever, Ontario isn’t standing still — we’re stepping up,” he said in an interview.

A key pressure point is the rapid expansion of data-centre projects that support artificial-intelligence and cloud-computing services. Proposals waiting in the queue could require as much as 6,500 megawatts of new capacity, nearly 30 % of today’s provincial peak demand. The bill would create an authority to decide which of those projects proceed, favouring facilities that promise high-quality jobs and keep Canadian data on Canadian soil.

Other measures in the act would:

• expand the Future Clean Electricity Fund so it can pay for new nuclear reactors and the transmission lines needed to connect them; and
• broaden the IESO’s responsibilities to include hydrogen initiatives financed through the existing Hydrogen Innovation Fund.

Associate Minister Sam Oosterhoff, whose portfolio covers energy-intensive industries, said the legislation “assures all power consumers of an integrated, all-of-the-above energy approach that prioritises economic growth and affordability — for decades to come.”

If passed, the act will underpin Ontario’s first Integrated Energy Plan, expected later this month. The province says the plan will map out how to keep electricity bills stable while building enough low-carbon generation to supply homes, factories and the next wave of digital infrastructure without relying on imports from neighbouring jurisdictions.