Ontario's biggest hydro dams to get $1B life extension

Ontario says it will spend $1 billion to extend the life of the biggest hydroelectric dams in the province.

The project involves refur‐ bishing the Sir Adam Beck I and II generating stations along the Niagara River, which between them account for nine per cent of all elec‐ tricity produced in Ontario each year.

Energy Minister Todd Smith announced the plan at the Sir Adam Beck site Tues‐ day morning. CBC Toronto was given details of the an‐ nouncement in advance.

"If we want to keep pro‐ ducing clean electricity at this station, then we have to in‐ vest in its future," Smith said.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is contracting GE Ver‐ nova for the work. GE Verno‐ va is the name of a newly cre‐ ated energy company spun off from the multinational GE

Corp.

The project will see nearly all of the two plants' existing generating units replaced with new equipment such as turbines. The work is to be‐ gin in 2025 and is expected to stretch over 15 years, to minimize the number of units are that out of produc‐ tion at any one time.

The refurbishment will ex‐ tend the life of about 1,700 megawatts of hydro supply, enough to power about 1.7 million homes, the province says.

Tuesday's announcement is just the latest in Ontario's plans for major refurbish‐ ments and expansions of electricity generating facili‐ ties, including what could be‐ come the biggest-ever expan‐ sion of nuclear power pro‐ duction in Canada.

The province's Indepen‐ dent Electricity Systems Op‐ erator forecasts that demand for electricity in Ontario will jump 59 per cent by 2050, driven both by population growth and the expected re‐ duction in fossil fuel use for powering industry and vehi‐ cles.