Those IWT in Ontario were in full swing showing off their unreliable and intermittent nature on January 24th and the 25th during the first seven (7) hours (from 12 AM to 7 AM) of each day.
On the 24th over the first seven hours those IWT were humming and IESO forecast they would generate 27,980 MWh which would represent 81.6% of their capacity but IESO scaled back what they actually delivered by curtailing about 2,000 MWh as they were obviously not needed in the middle of the night when nuclear and must-run hydro were pretty well supplying all our needs. The result was our net exports (exports minus imports) over that 7 hours were 22,934 MWh or 88% of what was accepted from those IWT. The average HOEP (hourly Ontario energy price) during the 7 hours was $8.13/MWh so their sale generated $186,453. If we logically assume the bulk of them were either all IWT generated power or caused by their excess generation; the cost to us Ontarians was $3.096 million ($430K per hour) for what they generated plus another $240K for what IESO curtailed. Their frequent habit of generating unneeded power with us taxpayers/ratepayers forced to pay them for it at ridiculous prices continues!
Now if we traverse to the first 7 hours on the 25th, IESO forecast they would generate 4,526 MWh (13.2% of capacity) but they actually accepted 3,591 MWh meaning approximately 1,000 MWh were curtailed. The good news: for those 7 hours they kind of acted as they would if they were rammable power (similar to our gas plants and hydro). As a result the average HOEP was $32.16 for the net exports of 9,636 MWh we sold to our neighbours meaning the costs for us Ontario taxpayers was only about $500K for the IWT generated power.
To put the above in perspective the 27,980 MWh those IWT were forecast to supply on the 24th is about equal to the daily average consumption of 930,000 Ontario households whereas the 4,526 MWh forecast on the 25th is only enough to power 150,000 households for one day.
What the foregoing suggests:
1.Without the 11,433 MWh our natural gas generators supplied during those 7 hours on the 25th we may well have experienced a blackout, and
2.Without natural gas supply EV owners would have been unable to charge their batteries meaning they may have been unable to use them to go to work the following day!
Full electrification is a pipedream but based on a letter from Ontario Energy Minister, Todd Smith, our politicians fail to detect the flaws!
Minister Smith’s letter to the OEB dated October 21, 2022, carried the following message: “The government has a vision for the energy system in which Ontario leverages its clean energy grid to promote electrification and job creation while continually enhancing reliability, resiliency and customer choice.“
We should all expect the “vision” will fail in many ways including; electrification, job creation, reliability and resiliency!
PS: No solar generation to report from 1 AM to 7 AM on either day.
Parker Gallant Energy Perspectives 
Print size is too small to read
LikeLike
I find it remarkable that both federal and Ontario governments keep claiming that increased reliance on wind and solar energy will create jobs. The Fraser Institute concluded in a study a few years ago that the high rates caused by Ontario “green” policies had resulted in the loss of 75,000 jobs. Statistics Canada every year publishes data concerning the composition of national gross domestic product from “environmental and clean technology products and services” as well as the employment in these industries. The latest annual report (for 2021) reported that the GDP of this sector in 2021 accounted for 2.9% on total GDP, almost exactly what it was in 2007 when StatsCan started reporting on this sector (i.e. no growth in 14 years despite hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies). Employment in the sector in 2021 was 314,000 , 1.9% of total Canadian employment, and about the same as it was in 2015. If new jobs are being created they are in China.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That so-called government vision is really a hallucination.
LikeLike
For $500 million you could buy a battery pack to soak up 1,000 MWh. For $14 billion you just about handle the surplus wind power. Or you could pay to to buy out the contracts and be done with it.
LikeLike