Werden steigende Strompreise Ontarios nuklearen Ausbau zunichte machen?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-will-soaring-electricity-rates-kill-ontarios-nuclear-expansion/
Werden steigende Strompreise Ontarios nuklearen Ausbau zunichte machen?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-will-soaring-electricity-rates-kill-ontarios-nuclear-expansion/
2 Kommentare
A few problems with this.
1. This is OPG only. Bruce, the larger source has been offering stable rates and have published projections out to the 2050’s. So the cost increase is not reflected.
2. A lot of this is OPGs own doing. They are paying for the Pickering B refurbs off current bills (high costs due to refurbs divided by low output since only Darlington will be producing), rather than financing a bunch of it for it’s costs to even out the bills. But the costs will normalize again post ~2035 when Pickering B is complete. (And partially before then as each unit comes back online).
Parts of this article are nonsense.
>Ontario’s Nov. 1 rate hike of 29 per cent was likely the largest on the continent last year. In the past year, Maine and New Jersey experienced increases of 25.5 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The U.S. national average was just 6.6 per cent.
[This website puts the price in Maine in the range of 0.20-0.32 USD per kWh.](https://www.maine.gov/mpuc/regulated-utilities/electricity/delivery-rates) [Ontario off-peak is ~ 0.098 CAD per kWh and peak is 0.203 CAD per kWh. ](https://www.oeb.ca/consumer-information-and-protection/electricity-rates#:~:text=The%20Ontario%20Energy%20Board%20sets,on%20when%20you%20use%20electricity)So Ontario’s rate went up more as a percentage of a smaller number but they still chose to describe it as the „highest increase“ in North America?
>If granted, monthly bills would increase by an average of $3.50 each year for the next five years.
Is that supposed to be a lot? A quick Google says average bills are ~ 100 CAD/month, which conviently makes the math easy, it is ~3.5% increase year over year. When inflation is 2-3% that isn’t exactly unreasonable given the fact that the grid is also undergoing major investment at the same time.
Later, the author goes on to talk about the „path not taken“ (renewables). This part of the article is remarkably light on firm numbers for costs, except for quoting a renewable lobbyist (Mr Pickup of the Pembina Institute) claiming that it is 2-8 times cheaper. Later, the article admits that the number isn’t representative because it ignores intermittency, which is clearly a big deal in Ontario winters with large amounts of cloud cover for days or weeks at a time.
[The article also leaves out that nuclear has allowed Ontario to achieve impressively low carbon intensities.](https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/live/fifteen_minutes) Most places that are lower are lucky to have generous hydroelectricity or less variable solar resources. For example today Ontario’s grid had 125-183 g/CO2E vs Germany at 404-508 g/CO2E or Western Australia (a solar power house) 225-381 g/CO2e.