With Canada aiming to double the electricity grid capacity by 2050 as demand keeps rising, questions are also rising wondering how the new national electricity strategy may impact consumers, from regular households to businesses and more. In this article below, we will not only cover the news and talking points about it, but we will also look at the impacts that may come with the new strategy.
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The plan aims to double the capacity of Canada’s grid by 2050 as stated before, adding in that the federal government is launching consultations with all the provinces, territories, Indigenous groups, utility companies, and unions as well. The clean electricity strategy includes spending on building infrastructure for Canada’s electricity generation, transmission, distribution, storage, and grid modernization. The benefit is that it will also connect Canada’s currently fragmented electricity grids in the east, west, and north through new and expanded transmission lines.
The system is already 80% non-emitting. Doubling the generation will be required over the next few decades. Linking the provincial systems and putting into these massive investments will be needed, as everything takes more power. From cars to phones to jobs and everything in-between, everything in our lives relies on constant electricity.
The biggest hurdles for this project are going to be the span of distance that needs to be covered between provinces. The land acquisitions, land access, expenses, challenges that will arise from that, and the traditional cost overruns on larger transmission lanes. All of these things are good reasons to look into helping double the electricity grid capacity locally, to help ease the distance issues and some of the struggles, especially for areas such as Nunavut that still rely on diesel generation for power and don’t have infrastructure around to better generate power otherwise, including solar and wind. Electricity costs have risen across the board for all Canadians and all of these changes will help.
The strategy document cites a 2025 study by the Canadian Nuclear Association that projects that Canada could need 150 gigawatts of additional firm electricity generation by mid-century, including 115 gigawatts of new non-emitting baseloads. To put this into perspective, the requirement for the new baseload alone represents more than twice the country’s existing combined nuclear and hydro baseload capacity. Ontario alone is expected to see electricity demand grow by 75% by 2050. 60% of all of Canada’s electricity is hydroelectric, wind, and solar energy represent a growing share. Generations from wind farms and solar panels grew from 1.5% of total electricity generation to 7% in 2021.
The strategy document points to natural gas as a central pillar for the new electricity plan, as maintaining affordability, reliability, and system flexibility. The strategy also lays out plans to spend “tens of billions” of dollars on clean technology including on carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
What are the four pillars of the new strategy?
The National Electricity Strategy will be guided by these four pillars, as closely as they can to ensure the success.
- Build the infrastructure needed to double Canada’s electricity generation
- This will require generational investments in generation, transmission, distribution, storage, and grid moderation. These new consultations will explore how to most effectively finance the build out, to spread the costs over time to match the benefits, keeping energy affordable and our country competitive.
- Connect Canada’s fragmented grids East-West-North through new and expanded transmission lines
- Canada’s electricity system is currently fragmented across provincial and territorial grids, costing us billions of dollars in outages, duplicative infrastructure, and wasted power. These consultations will tackle common barriers to interprovincial interties so we can unite our grids and deliver more reliable, affordable power to all Canadians.
- Train, attract, and retain the talent needed to build the grid of the future
- Doubling the grid will require more than 130,000 high-skilled workers by 2050. Through these consultations, the federal government will work with industry, labour, and training partners to develop solutions to train, attract, and retain the talent needed to build and maintain the grid of the future.
- Make more of the technologies and components powering our grid here at home
- As we build the clean economy of the future, Canada’s new government is ensuring our industries can bridge to seize its opportunities. These consultations will explore how to grow domestic manufacturing capacity so that more of the components powering our grid are made in Canada.
As part of the comprehensive focus on affordability, they are also expanding support for energy-saving retrofits for up to one million households through financing grants and complementary measures. This includes making it easier for Canadians to transition from expensive propane, oil, and electric baseboard heating to more affordable electric heat pumps. The work of doubling the grid is already underway, as through the Major Projects Office (MPO), they are advancing clean energy generation projects – including hydroelectric projects like the Taltson Hyrdo Expansion in the Northwest Territories and the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project in Nunavut, nuclear generation projects such as Darlington New Nuclear in Ontario, clean electricity transmission lines like the North Coast Transmission Line in BC and major wind developments like Wind West in Nova Scotia.
In parallel, they are trying to make Canada the best place in the world to build and invest in clean energy, from the clean economy tax credits and other investment incentives to tightened methane regulations and strengthened industrial carbon pricing. They are accelerating approvals for critical mineral development and low carbon housing. Through the Climate Competitiveness Strategy, they are unlocking billions in investment across nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, and grid infrastructure, while also working to make electric vehicles more accessible and affordable for Canadians.
There are other factors that also work together with the new Electricity Plan are projects and other questions, such as if adopting EV energy could help the electrical grid, or other ways we can help keep the power grid reliability in check.
How does NERC label grid reliability, and what does this mean for the new electricity plan?
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC for short) is the regulatory body tasked with ensuring the long-term reliability and security of the North American bulk power system. Through its statutory 10-year Long Term Reliability Assessment (LTRA), NERC labels and categorizes grids based on their resource adequacy, regional supply risks, and projected generation demands. In no particular order:
- Resource adequacy. Measuring whether available dispatchable generation can meet projected peak demands while maintaining target reserve margins. For example, the standard type of one day in ten years expected loss of load for power.
- Declining dispatchable generation. The rate at which traditional baseload thermal generation such as coal and gas is retiring compared to how quickly variable renewable resources (wind and solar) and how much storage is added to the grid as well.
- Escalating demand growth. Rapid load increases driven by the rapid build out of AI data centers, electriciation, and heavy industry.
Their long term risk factor classifications are in place to warn grid operators, state planners, and policymakers of potential effects to the grid. These are typically for regions that are projected to have issues down the line or are on their way to danger. These are:
- HIGH RISK (Red): These regions have planned and committed resources that may or do fall short of meeting reserve margins or adequacy targets. These shortfalls are typically projected to hit within the next three to five years unless new generation or transmission is expedited. Areas historically labeled as high risk include MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator), PJM Interconnection, ERCOT (Texas), and parts of the WECC (Western Electricity Coordinating Council).
- ELEVATED (Yellow): Regions where projected capacity margins are tight or depend heavily on uncertain factors, such as timely imports from neighbouring regions or the completion of generation projects currently caught in long interconnection queues.
- LOW (Green): Regions that demonstrate sufficient reserve margins and where local growth is relatively balanced with planned and achievable generation additions.
These warnings along with paying attention to energy use, and the new electricity plan in place to help down the line, can bolster the country and can help with energy bills for consumers in the future.
