St. Clair Township mayor excited by talk of new generating station

The mayor of St. Clair Township says he welcomes news that the province has asked Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to begin discussions with the municipality about new energy generation.

Jeff Agar said St. Clair lost around $2 million in tax revenue when the coal-fuelled Lambton Generating Station was decommissioned in 2017, and he's enthusiastic about the jobs and economic growth a new station could bring. 

"We lost a major contributor to St. Clair Township back then," he said.

"I was always hoping that they would want to rebuild something there, and I guess they're finally going to."

Ontario announced on Wednesday that it has asked OPG to reach out to three communities where it has existing sites — St. Clair, Port Hope and Haldimand County — to gauge community support for new energy generation, including possible nuclear generation. 

The province needs to generate another 16,000 megawatts (MW) of power on top of what will be generated by the projects it's already launched in order to meet anticipated demand, according to a news release issued by the Ministry of Energy and Electrification.

The province's demand for electricity is forecast to increase by 75 per cent by 2050, according to Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).

Energy demand driven by manufacturing, AI, electrification

That increase is being driven by population increases, new manufacturing facilities, advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, the electrification of industry, and the charging energy required for electric vehicles.

Agar said it will likely be years before the township sees a new generating facility, but the ministry said early engagement is an important part of its approach, and it plans to speak with potential host communities about the jobs and revenue opportunities that could come from such a project.

It also plans to discuss the creation of a new fund with up to $50 million for municipal host communities to support community infrastructure and attract co-located industry, it said.

Agar said he has not yet received any formal communication about the site from OPG and does not know what kind of energy generation it might host — though he noted it's not suitable for wind or solar — but he has "heard rumblings" about possible action for quite a while now.

"I was quite excited to hear St. Clair Township," he said of the announcement.