Bruce Power statement on Ontario's Climate Change Strategy

TIVERTON, ON, Nov. 24, 2015 /CNW/ - This afternoon, the Ontario Government released its Climate Change Strategy, charting a course to secure a low-carbon future for the province. The release of the strategy comes at a time when Canada's First Ministers have met to discuss this important issue prior to the COP21 international forum in Paris next week.

The government has also committed to releasing a detailed, five-year action plan in early-2016 to achieve Ontario's emission reduction targets for 2020, 2030 and 2050.

Bruce Power is committed to playing a key role in the province to not only provide reliable and affordable electricity to families and businesses, but also as a major source of clean, carbon-free energy to help Ontario achieve its reduction targets.

In fact, as outlined in a joint study release by Bruce Power and the Asthma Society of Canada in 2014, the Bruce Power site is the single largest source of clean electricity in the province. Over the past decade, Bruce Power restarted four dormant nuclear units, providing 70 per cent of the energy needed to phase out coal-fired generation – the single largest emissions reduction initiative in North America. A copy of the report can be found here.

Consistent with Ontario's Long-Term Energy Plan, Bruce Power expects to provide the province with a large volume of carbon-free electricity for decades to come, building on the progress Ontario has already made in cleaning the air we breathe.

Bruce Power recently launched an online tool where people can gain a better understanding of the role Bruce Power nuclear plays in meeting Ontario's short- and long-term climate change targets.

Bruce Power is also committed to supporting clean, electrified transportation. Partnering with Plug'n Drive, the University of Waterloo, local communities and the Asthma Society of Canada, Bruce Power announced a series of collaborative initiatives to promote clean, electrified transportation in September, and is committed to advancing these initiatives in 2016 and beyond.

Background

By 2012, only nine per cent of Ontario's emissions come from the electricity sector, an advancement enabled by the phase out of coal-fired generation. The largest contributor to emissions in Ontario is the transportation sector, which accounts for 34 per cent of all emissions.

The Ontario government has set a goal to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by 15 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. Carbon-free electricity from the Bruce Power site avoids 31 million tonnes of CO₂ annually, which is the equivalent of taking six million cars off the road.

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world's largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 30 per cent of Ontario's electricity. The company's site in Tiverton, ON, is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System), TransCanada, the Power Workers' Union and the Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power's employees are also owners in the business.

SOURCE Bruce Power

John Peevers, 519-361-6583, [email protected]