Ontario’s Local Hydro Utilities Smash Provincial Conservation Goals

Sept 10, 2018

Mid-way through Ontario’s 2015-2020 Conservation First Framework, 69% of the target has already been met. The framework maps out the province’s energy conservation goals for the period. (Shown in photo: Festival Hydro’s battery storage project in Stratford, Ontario, expected to have a total capacity of the facility will be 4.4 megawatts.)

The framework emphasizes coordinated efforts through all stages of energy planning, with the aim of reducing 8.7 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity consumption in Ontario by the end of 2020. Local hydro utilities are charged with the lion’s share of reductions, carrying responsibility for 7 TWh of the total.

According to the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), the body that manages Ontario’s  power grid, local hydro utilities achieved 1.8 TWh of energy savings in 2017, conservation’s best performing year. When combined with 2015-2016 results, these utilities have achieved 4.9 TWh of energy savings.

“The mid-term results show positive progress in promoting a culture of conservation across the province,” says Brian Wilkie, Chair of the Electricity Distributors Association Board of Directors. “To put it in perspective, the savings could power 500,000 homes in the province — a massive accomplishment.”

Besides their responsibility for meeting lofty conservation goals, Ontario’s local hydro utilities were required to hit the stretch targets on a tighter budget than ever before. Results were achieved at the lowest cost on record, just 2.5–3 cents a kilowatt hour.

Photo source: Power of Local Hydro, https://poweroflocalhydro.ca/largest-battery-storage-facility-in-canada-calls-stratford-home/, published by the Electricity Distributors Association