TORONTO - Peak demand for power was down by almost five per cent this summer, and that suggests growing public willingness to conserve energy that could help close Ontario's coal-fired power plants well ahead of schedule, critics said Thursday.
The power grid was most taxed this summer on June 26 when peak demand hit 25,737 megawatts, good enough for 11th on the list of record-high demand days in Ontario.
But that peak was still 1,268 megawatts short of last year's August high -- evidence that the province's modest efforts to encourage conservation are bearing fruit, said Jack Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
"It's a clear message that if we do energy conservation right, there is a huge potential; the reduction we've seen this year is just the tip of the iceberg,'' Gibbons said.
"If we aggressively promote energy conservation we will be able to phase out our dirty coal plants by 2010, four years ahead of Premier Dalton McGuinty's proposed schedule.''
Even though this summer's peak demand only decreased by 4.7 per cent, that's still the equivalent of one-third of the total output of the Nanticoke generating station, the province's biggest coal-fired power plant, Gibbons said.
He credited some of the province's electric utilities for successfully launching programs to convince business and residential customers to reduce their energy consumption.
The programs helped reduce demand by as much as 14.5 per cent in Wasaga, Ont., during peak periods, while large utility Hydro One had reductions of 5.3 per cent.
Terry Young of the Independent Electricity System Operator said conservation definitely played a role in lowering this year's peak demand, although there were also other factors at play.
The summer was less hot and humid than the previous year, and overnight temperatures in particular weren't as high, he said.
And last year's peak demand of 27,005 megawatts may not be the best barometer since it was also an all-time high for the province, Young said.
But he did note that this year's peak was also below the 2005 high of 26,160 megawatts.
"It's still clear that conservation is playing a role in keeping demand down,'' Young said.
"More and more (conservation) programs by local distribution companies are being implementing and they're getting results.''
Gibbons acknowledged that weather might have been a factor in this year's lower peak demand.
However, other factors that contribute to higher energy consumption probably offset the impact of lower temperatures, and yet demand was still low, he added.
"We haven't made corrections for weather, but we also haven't made corrections for the fact that the population of Ontario has risen in 2007, we haven't made corrections for the fact that we've got more houses in Ontario, the economy's up . . . and we've got more air conditioners in Ontario,'' he said.
"The skeptics on energy conservation typically say our demand is going to rise forever, and if you asked those skeptics last year if we'd be lower this year they would have said no.''
Steve Erwin, a spokesman for Energy Minister Dwight Duncan, said the government is pleased with this year's lower peak demand and hopes for similar reductions next year.
But he cautioned that it's too early to suggest that coal plants could be closed early.
"It's difficult to project where conservation will play in terms of the overall role (of closing coal plants),'' Erwin said.
"If conservation exceeds expectations then certainly that will help, but there's a number of factors that go into those target dates.''
