Long Term Energy Plan Update - What’s In Store For Ontario’s Power Sector?

In light of the anticipated release of Ontario's new long term energy plan ("2013 LTEP") near the end of November, we wanted to provide a summary of our colleague George Vegh's paper, "Energy Planning: The Case for a Less Prescriptive Approach"  George is the head of McCarthy Tétrault's energy regulatory practice.

The paper provides an analysis of the discussion paper and data released by the Government of Ontario on the 2013 LTEP. It compares this year's plan with previous planning exercises, and proposes a less prescriptive approach to electricity planning.

George identifies the opportunity for a dramatic course correction, especially in connection with the role of renewable power, new nuclear facilities and conservation. The data accompanying the 2013 LTEP shows that capacity requirements that are not planned for in terms of specific commitments to these resources have dramatically increased under the newest plan.  This suggests that the uncommitted capacity