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Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is a public company whose shares are wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. It is responsible for electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada.

OPG was established in April 1999 under the provincial government of premier Mike Harris as a precursor to deregulation of the province's electrical transmission delivery. As part of government plans to privatize the assets of Ontario Hydro, the utility was split into 5 separate corporations. OPG was created as the operator of all of Ontario Hydro's electrical generating stations. OPG was not intended to be included in the 2001 failed Initial Public Offering of stock in its sister company Hydro One, another Ontario Hydro spin-off, and the planned privatization of all electrical generation and distribution in the province has been postponed indefinitely. Although the government of Ontario has recently created an open electricity market, it regulates the price OPG receives for electricity provided to be less than the market average, in an attempt to stabilize prices.

OPG is Canada's largest owner of nuclear power plants with responsibility for operating 12 CANDU reactors. Another 8 CANDU reactors in Tiverton that were owned/operated by Ontario Hydro until the 1999 splitting of the company, are still owned by OPG but are operated under a long term lease by an independent private sector consortium called Bruce Power since May 2001.

OPG has attracted considerable controversy for its continued operation of some of Canada's worst individual air pollution sources in its coal fired generating stations. Nanticoke GS is North America's largest coal fired generating station and the single worst air pollution source for southern Ontario and northern New York state, attracting considerable criticism from environmentalists and legislators in both jurisdictions. * Lambton GS is the second worst air polluter in the province and Lakeview GS was the largest single source of smog in the Golden Horseshoe/GTA. However, these stations generate considerably less pollution than the collective smog produced by cars and trucks in the Golden Horseshoe. OPG argues that because Nanticoke houses a massive 4,000MW of generation capacity in one site, it produces "the most pollution in one site" despite being a reasonably clean plant per MW of power.

OPG endured significant criticism concerning the slow return to operation of some of its nuclear generating stations which had been knocked offline by the August 14, 2003 blackout. The problem was that all but one of the reactors were tripped and allowed to poison out, preventing an early reconnection to the electricity grid. Once shut down, all nuclear reactors take a relatively long amount of time to return to service.

Another source of criticism was the extended and expensive refit to Unit 4 of the four mothballed reactors at Pickering A GS. Management underestimated the amount of work and complexity of the refurbishment project. However, the experience of refurbishing Unit 1 has been significantly different with a much tighter adherence to schedule and budget. Unit 1 was returned to service in November 2005. It was recently decided that Units 2 and 3, which had considerably larger maintenance issues, would not be restarted as the business case could not be made.

OPG, currently, owns/operates or contracts some limited alternative electricity generation through 2 wind power sites as well as 2 solar power sites and 2 biomass energy sites. However, these will probably have to be divested as the government does not want OPG to compete against private companies in the anticipated lucrative environmentally friendly power market.

In early 2006, a letter of intent was sent from OPG to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) giving notice for regulatory approval to construct and operate a geologic disposal facility on the Bruce Nuclear Generating Site within the municipality of Kincardine, Ontario. This proposed project would allow for the permanent storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes produced from the operation of the nuclear generating stations of Bruce, Pickering and Darlington, Ontario, in a deep geologic setting. This project will require a comprehensive environmental assessment to identify the possible environmental effects of the proposed project, and determine whether these effects can be mitigated.

On the local public relations side, OPG has won many awards for its performance as a "good corporate citizen." OPG regularly sponsors community events, houses wildlife trails in the exclusion zones around its reactors, and regularly reports on its safety and environmental record.

Power plants

Former Ontario Hydro generating stations currently operated by OPG include:

Nuclear

  • Pickering A (4 CANDU reactors)
  • Pickering B (4 CANDU reactors)
  • Darlington (4 CANDU reactors)
  • Bruce A (4 CANDU reactors, operated by Bruce Power)
  • Bruce B (4 CANDU reactors, operated by Bruce Power)

Fossil Fuel

Large Hydroelectric

  • DeCew Falls 1 (Welland Canal)
  • Decew Falls 2 (Welland Canal)
  • Ontario Power (retired) (Niagara River)
  • Sir Adam Beck 1 (Niagara River)
  • Sir Adam Beck 2 (Niagara River)
  • Abitibi Canyon (Abitibi River)
  • Harmon (Mattagami River)
  • Hound Chute (Montreal River)
  • Indian Chute (Montreal River)
  • Kipling (Mattagami River)
  • Little Long (Mattagami River)
  • Lower Notch (Montreal River)
  • Lower Sturgeon Falls (Mattagami River)
  • Matabitchuan (Montreal River)
  • Otter Rapids (Abitibi River)
  • Sandy Falls (Mattagami River)
  • Smoky Falls (Sturgeon River)
  • Wawaitin Falls (Mattagami River)
  • Aguasabon (Aguasabon River)
  • Alexander Falls (Nipigon River)
  • Cameron Falls (Nipigon River)
  • Caribou Falls (English River)
  • Ear Falls (English River)
  • Kakabeka (Kaministiquia River)
  • Manitou Falls (English River)
  • Pine Portage (Nipigon River)
  • Silver Falls (Dog River)
  • Whitedog Falls (Winnipeg River)
  • Arnprior (Madawaska River)
  • Barrett Chute (Madawaska River)
  • Calabogie (Madawaska River)
  • Chats Falls (Ottawa River)
  • Chenaux (Ottawa River)
  • Des Joachims (Ottawa River)
  • Mountain Chute (Madawaska River)
  • Otto Holden (Ottawa River)
  • R.H. Saunders (St. Lawrence River)
  • Stewartville (St. Lawrence River)

Small Hydroelectric

  • Auburn (Otanabee River)
  • Big Chute (Severn River)
  • Big Eddy (Muskoka River)
  • Bingham Chute (South River)
  • Coniston (Wanapitei River)
  • Crystal Falls (Sturgeon River)
  • Elliott Chute (South River)
  • Eugenia (Beaver River)
  • Frankford (Trent River)
  • Hagues Reach (Trent River)
  • Hanna Chute (Muskoka River)
  • Healey Falls (Trent River)
  • High Falls (Mississippi River)
  • Lakefield (Otanabee River)
  • McVittie (Wanapitei River)
  • Merrickville (Rideau River)
  • Meyersburg (Trent River)
  • Nipissing (South River)
  • Ragged Rapids (Muskoka River)
  • Ranney Falls (Trent River)
  • Seymour (Trent River)
  • Sidney (Trent River)
  • Sills Island (Trent River)
  • South Falls (Muskoka River)
  • Stinson (Wanapitei River)
  • Tretheway Falls (Muskoka River)

Wind

Never Used

  • Wesleyville GS (Wesleyville)

Governance

Current members of the board of directors of OPG are: Jake Epp, James Hankinson, Donald Hintz, Gary Kugler, George Lewis, David MacMillan, Corbin McNeill, Peggy Mulligan, Ian Ross, Marie Rounding, Bill Sheffield, and David Unruh.

See also

External links

Ontario Hydro | Hydroelectricity

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Ontario Power Generation".

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