New Ontario Government Acts To Overhaul Market

摘要

Faced with a capacity shortfall and fleets of dirty coal plants and aging nuclear units, Ontario is planning to rebuild and dramatically expand its electric infrastructure. The plan could soon make the province North America's most active market for powerplant construction and rehabilitation. Ontario's new Liberal government is moving quickly to break the regulatory gridlock that has paralyzed the power sector in Canada's most populous province since a botched attempt to implement retail competition in May 2002. Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan says he will unveil a detailed electric-industry restructuring plan later this spring aimed at increasing power supplies and encouraging conservation. Duncan says he expects up to $30 billion of public and private funds to be invested over the next few years in new generating sources, nuclear-plant rehabilitation and new high-voltage transmission lines. "We're looking at a massive investment of capital going forward....It could well be one of the largest peacetime investments in the history of this country," he says.