Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has announced a plan to procure 2GW of renewable energy, including solar, to meet growing energy demand by 2030.
IESO said the latest procurement will focus on non-emitting generation, namely wind, hydro, biomass and solar, which have “the most potential to be built and to be in service within an accelerated timeframe to help meet overall needs for energy” in the Canadian province.
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A total of 2GW of renewables will be acquired through the Long-Term 2 Procurement for 2030. Another 1.5GW is expected to be needed for 2032, and an additional 1.5GW for 2034.
“The next round of procurements will be a perfect complement to our storage fleet – generating energy to charge recently procured batteries that can be deployed when needed to meet system needs,” said Lesley Gallinger, president and CEO of IESO.
IESO added that the staged approach for acquiring new supply will allow for a regular reassessment of needs as time progresses and for ongoing technological advances to occur that may reduce associated costs.
Small-scale electricity generation and storage devices smaller than 1MW will be eligible to participate in the IESO procurement process for the first time.
Moreover, the procured capacity will work in tandem with Ontario’s future battery fleet, as battery storage expansion in Ontario is underway. PV Tech’s sister publication Energy-Storage.news has been following the launch of tenders for 1,500MW to 2,500MW of energy storage for the Ontario IESO grid, with nearly 900MW awarded in this year in two solicitations so far and more on the way.
IESO added that Ontario will have roughly 2.96GW of storage capacity participating in the electricity market in 2028.
Looking ahead, IESO said it will continue to bring non-emitting supply online as part of its broader decarbonisation efforts. The final details of the procurement will be released in February 2024.