Hydro Ottawa/Hydro One/Hydro Québec

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

This is completely laughable and total BS, sorry HydroOttawa, I don't buy that.

On a per capita basis, consumption is actually down. Blaming EV for a rise in power usage is not really true, since almost all EV charging is done overnight when there is surplus capacity. Data Centers and AI will likely have a greater impact, and if we move to heat pumps vs nat gas then it will explode since you can't choose when not to heat your house when its -25 outside

Official figures from IESO annual Ontario energy consumption

2015 137TWh
2016 137TWh
2017 132TWh
2018 137.4TWh
2019 135.1TWh
2020 132.2TWh
2021 133.8TWh
2022 137.5TWh

Interesting. Are they just drinking the energy transition without thinking about it's local impact? Or trying to get new energy production approved so they can sell it to Hydro-One?
AI Data centers seem unlikely to be located in Ottawa when just across the river electricity is half the cost.
We aren't switching to heat pumps. Even with massive subsidies they make no sense in our climate.
EVs could add daytime demand but that is probably easily solved with more time of day pricing also for delivery.

I think you are right it's a nothing burger.

[Richard Eade]

I read the CTV News article about this, and Ottawa Hydro was asked about electric vehicles, too.

The response:

"If you start charging between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on a 45-degree day, like we had last week, yah, we're going to have some challenges. We're nowhere near that problem yet."

Conrad estimates there are 5,000 electric vehicles in Ottawa.

"You could effectively double or triple that number, I don't think it's going to have an adverse effect on the grid."

From: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-s-h...echo-1.6940338

I hope that triple the estimated 5,000 e-vehicles is not a limit. If the government gets its way, there will soon be a whole lot more than 15,000 electric vehicles needing to charge in Ottawa. And many will likely need charging on hot afternoons and during cold mornings.

I think that the “historic” investment that Ottawa Hydro is making now will need to be continued for many years. Which, of course, like this round of investing, will increase the rates that people pay for electricity.

Also from the CTV News article:

Conrad says Hydro Ottawa will be submitting a rate application to the Ontario Energy Board in 2025, which will include spending to meet "customer needs in relation to reliability, resilience, emergency response, electrification and grid modernization."