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Dear John,
The federal government’s plan to make all electricity generation in Canada carbon-free by 2035 is impractical and highly unlikely, given physical, infrastructure, financial, and regulatory realities.
A new Fraser Institute study published today finds that in 2023, nearly 81% of Canada’s electricity came from carbon-free energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar.
But to replace the remaining 19% (which does use fossil fuels) in the next 10 years would require constructing the equivalent of:
Approximately 23 large hydroelectric dams, similar in size to BC’s Site C, or; More than four nuclear power plants similar in size to Ontario’s Darlington power station, or; Around 11,000 large wind turbines, which would not only require substantial investments in back-up power systems (since wind is intermittent) but would also require clearing 7,302 square kilometers of land — larger than the size of Prince Edward Island — excluding the additional land required for transmission infrastructure.
BC’s Site C project alone took approximately 43 years from the initial planning studies in 1971 to receive environmental certification in 2014, with completion expected in 2025 at a cost of $16 billion.
It is not at all realistic that this scale of energy infrastructure can be planned, approved, financed, and built in just 10 years.
Check out the full study here [[link removed]] and be sure to share this news with your friends and colleagues.
Sincerely,
Niels Veldhuis
President
The Fraser Institute
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