Toronto plans to double its electricity demand by 2050

The City of Toronto is developing a plan to meet growing electricity demand, expected to double by 2050 as heat and transit become electrified and more people settle into the area.

The Independent Energy Service Operator (IESO), the Crown corporation responsible for managing the electricity market and operations in the province, is holding a public consultation to inform the plan starting next week.

At a news conference Thursday at the Portland Energy Center, Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters the city needs more power to address a number of issues.

“We need more electricity to meet our climate goals,” he said.

“We need more electricity to run new transit lines. We need more electricity to build a way out of the housing crisis.”

Mayor Olivia Chow speaks to reporters at the Portland Energy Center on Thursday. According to Chow, as the city's population grows and services such as transit depend on electricity, the city needs to increase its electricity supply. (CBC)

Toronto's peak electricity demand is currently 4,700 megawatts, according to the IESO, which is about 20 percent of peak demand for the entire province.

Adding the Ontario line and electrifying GO Transit alone is expected to add 100 megawatts of energy demand to the grid, according to the IESO. That's roughly equivalent to the electricity demand of a city the size of Kingston.

Toronto is also looking to add 285,000 homes to the city by 2031.

“Different solutions” are needed

The Portland Energy Center is the city's single primary source of energy generation and is critical to meeting energy demand during the hottest and coldest days of the year, according to the IESO. But its electricity is generated by natural gas, which the IESO plans to phase out by 2050, when demand is expected to double.

“For cities to grow, we need a reliable grid and affordable power,” said IESO President and CEO Leslie Gallinger. “We will need different solutions to meet these future demands.”

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That includes upgrading existing transmission lines, building new ones and reducing power demand through energy efficiency programs, Gallinger said. It may also include building additional infrastructure to allow the city to generate more of its own electricity.

Electrification of vehicles, transit and heating are expected to increase electricity demand in Toronto in the coming decades. (Doug Ives/The Canadian Press)

Energy Minister Todd Smith said small-scale generation projects strategically located around the city and energy storage could be part of the IESO's new plan. The two existing transmission lines that carry electricity to the city are expected to strain over the next decade, he said.

The public asked to weigh in

The public consultation begins next Tuesday with an IESO-led webinar. The consultation to 2024 will provide information on available infrastructure options to sustainably increase the city's electricity supply. Following the consultation, the IESO will present a draft plan early next year.

Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith, pictured here in 2023, says Toronto must plan to expand its energy infrastructure by 2050. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

“Building new electrical infrastructure, especially in a busy and growing city like Toronto, can take more than a decade to develop and deploy, so it's critical to start planning early to get shovels in the ground as soon as possible,” Smith said. Thursday.

The plan for Toronto's “energy future” is part of Powering Ontario's Growth, a provincial plan to increase electricity supply and reduce emissions.

In a report earlier this year, a government-appointed commission recommended Ontario commit to a clean energy economy by 2050.