Ontario Advancing Work to Improve Electricity Grid Resiliency

New report assesses best practices following extreme weather events

NEWS April 25, 2023

TORONTO – At the direction of Todd Smith, Ontario’s Minister of Energy, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) has launched consultations on proposals to improve the reliability of Ontario’s electricity grid. The OEB, which is hosting a session later today on “Distribution Sector Resilience, Responsiveness and Cost Efficiency”, will provide advice to the Minister this summer including best practices to ensure Ontario families and businesses have access to reliable electricity despite the increase in extreme weather events.

“Disruptions to electricity supply caused by extreme weather create significant financial and safety risks for Ontarians” said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “Our government is ensuring that Ontario’s electricity system continues to adapt to these changing conditions so that it remains resilient and continues to deliver reliable electricity to families and businesses both now and in the future”

Energy infrastructure, and electricity in particular, is a critical resource, playing a key role in enabling infrastructure that protects our most vulnerable, including healthcare, telecommunications, water, and food. In recent years Ontario has seen major storms including in May 2022 when a powerful derecho swept through southern Ontario causing widespread power outages and in December 2022, when severe winter storms impacted electricity supply for thousands of Ontarians.

Following Minister Smith’s direction to the OEB in 2022, the OEB has released a draft report that outlines resiliency measures and is now working with local utilities and other electricity service providers on potential next steps to improve resilience and responsiveness with an eye to cost efficiency. Some measures outlined in the report include increasing redundancies in the grid, ensuring equipment is on hand, reinforcing poles in areas prone to damage and the deployment of automated components to instantly pinpoint where crews are needed.

“With a generational energy transition underway, alongside the prospect of increased severe weather events, this project has significant importance, said Susanna Zagar, Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Energy Board. “We are in this together and, with consumers in our focus, we are working with our stakeholders toward the creation of a road map to achieve greater grid resiliency.”

As Ontario’s electricity demand continues to grow due to electrification and economic growth and with Ontario families increasingly depending on electricity for transportation and home heating, the government is taking the action required to protect our grid. Ontario’s affordable, reliable and clean electricity supply has been a key driver to the record-setting investments and job creation we’ve experienced over the past months.

“The power needs to be there when families and businesses in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell flip the switch,” said Stéphane Sarrazin, MPP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. “I’m glad our government is thinking ahead and preparing for extreme weather events now, to provide families and businesses with the peace of mind they need to ensure the continued growth of Ontario’s economy and access to reliable, affordable and clean electricity.”

QUICK FACTS

  • The Ontario Energy Board is the province’s independent regulator of Ontario’s electricity and natural gas sectors.
  • The Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan identified extreme weather events as a challenge to system planning and committed to building resilience in Ontario’s electricity grid through technology and capital investments.
  • Ontario has launched the largest procurement of clean energy storage in Canada’s history. This procurement is in addition to the announcement of Canada’s largest battery storage project, the Oneida Battery Storage Project, in partnership with Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, Northland Power, NRStor and Aecon Group.
  • May 2022’s EF-2 derecho that affected Canada’s most densely populated region – the Windsor-Quebec City Corridor – has been described by meteorologists as one of the most impactful storms in Canadian history.
  • On January 25, 2023, the OEB issued a letter that initiated engagement with stakeholders through multiple sessions to improve resiliency within Ontario’s distribution system. The OEB will produce a final report for the Minister of Energy.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Engage with Us project page

Learn about progress to date on grid resiliency from the OEB

  
MEDIA CONTACTS
Stephany Tessier
Executive Assistant MPP Office of Stéphane Sarrazin
613.677.3451