Summary:
ORA requests that the Renewable Energy on Crown Land Policy Review take into account the communities and stakeholders that will have to live with the impacts of these hydroelectric dams. Public consultation must be a mandatory component before releasing Crown Land to developers.
A provincial strategy for waterpower development is needed. A strategy that examines the full range of impacts before a site is released to developers, to look at where it makes ecological sense to build hydroelectric dams vs. where it does not make sense. Crown lands are held in trust for the people of Ontario – and therefore they must be effectively and transparently consulted before disposing of a waterpower site.
Ontario has a surplus of power, and as stated in a report by George Vegh, Chair of the Electricity market Forum, “The supply-side challenge now is therefore not driven by the need to procure new generation capacity, but to manage supply to meet the needs of electricity customers”, and “under the Medium Growth scenario, the forecast for demand is flat and it is not until 2027 that peak demand is expected to grow by 1,000 MW. Even under the High Growth scenario, peak demand does not grow by 1,000 MW until 2022. Under the Low Growth scenario – which appears to be higher than where demand is trending – peak demand does not increase by 1000 MW prior to the end of the Plan term (2030).