Ontario Hydro
Encyclopedia
Ontario Hydro was the official name from 1974 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario
which was established in 1906 by the provincial Power Commission Act to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies already operating at Niagara Falls
.
It soon developed its own generation resources by buying private generation stations and then becoming a major designer and builder of new stations. As most of the readily developed hydroelectric
sites were exploited, the corporation expanded into building first coal
fired generation and then nuclear power
. It had become one of the largest, fully integrated electricity
corporations in North America by the 1990s.
In 1999, Ontario Hydro was split up into five successor companies.
, minister without portfolio
in the provincial government of Sir James P. Whitney. Beck had been a prominent advocate of a publicly owned electricity grid. In 1907, Toronto City Council approves the development and public control of hydro-electric power, thanks to the leadership and commitment of Adam Beck's ally, William Peyton Hubbard
. The son of a freed slave from Virginia, Hubbard was first elected to Toronto City Council in 1894. Together Beck and Hubbard made a formidable team, Beck fighting for public ownership province-wide, and Hubbard taking the lead at the municipal level.
The first transmission lines began providing power to southwestern Ontario in 1910. Beck was knighted in 1914 for his work in electrifying Ontario.
In the 1920s the commission began generating and distributing its own power when it was given the mandate to electrify rural areas. Besides building its own generating stations, it bought the transmission lines and generators of the largest private electricity company. In 1948, HEPCO changed most of its system from 25 Hz to 60 Hz. However, the Fort Erie area south of Niagara Falls stayed on the remaining 25 Hz generators until 1966, and this area had electricity throughout the 1965 Eastern Seaboard Blackout
.
By the 1950s the commission was operating as a single integrated system. As demand rose in the post-war period, Ontario Hydro started expanding its generation system bringing on line many new hydroelectric stations. In 1953, Ontario Hydro began to interconnect with other utilities, the first interconnection being the Keith-Waterman 230,000 volt transmission line in Windsor
which crosses the Detroit River
to Detroit, Michigan
interconnecting with Detroit Edison
in the United States
. Shortly thereafter, other interconnections with New York State were built. The first coal
fired generating stations in the system were also built in this period. The expansion of coal continued during the 1960s and 1970s but was overtaken by the development of nuclear power.
By the late 1950s the corporation also started getting involved in development, design and construction of CANDU nuclear power
stations, with the first commercial sized one coming on line in 1965 at Douglas Point
.
In the 1960s, HEPCO was the first utility in North America to utilize ultra-high voltage transmission lines. Planning for the UHV lines began in 1960 and in 1967, HEPCO put into service transmission lines carrying 500,000 volts that carry power from hydroelectric sources in remote Northern Ontario
to high load areas in southern Ontario
such as Toronto
, London
, and Ottawa
. During the 1970s and 80's, Ontario Hydro gradually expanded the 500KV transmission system into what it is today.
During the 1960s and 1970s Ontario Hydro's nuclear generating program expanded with the building of the first four units of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
followed by stations at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station
and a second four units at Pickering. By the late 1980s, Ontario Hydro operated one of the largest fleets of nuclear powered generating stations in the world.
By 1970 all but the most remote municipal power systems in Ontario were organized into a single grid.
In 1974 the Power Corporation Act reorganized the system as a crown corporation called Ontario Hydro, the name it was most usually known by. In many Canadian provinces, including Ontario, hydroelectric power is so common that "hydro" has become synonymous with electric power regardless of the actual source of the electricity.
In 1989, Ontario Hydro published a 4-volume study, up to the year 2014, under the title "Providing the Balance of Power
. Ontario Hydro's Plan to Serve Customers' Electricity Needs." with different scenarios attempting to solve the need for additional facilities to replace aging electricity generation stations. This was derailed when electricity growth rates declined due to the recession of the early 1990s.
Following what had seemed to be excellent operation in the early years, problems with the construction of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
and less than adequate maintenance with the existing nuclear stations lead to extended shutdowns and large increases in the rates charged.
In 1998, the Progressive Conservative
government of Mike Harris
passed the Energy Competition Act which authorized the establishment of a market in electricity. In April 1999, Ontario Hydro was re-organized into five companies: Ontario Power Generation
(OPG), the Ontario Hydro Services Company (later renamed Hydro One
), the Independent Electricity Market Operator (later renamed the Independent Electricity System Operator
), the Electrical Safety Authority, and Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation. The two commercial companies, Ontario Power Generation
and Hydro One
, were intended to eventually operate as private businesses rather than as crown corporations.
OPG was incorporated on April 1, 1999.
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
which was established in 1906 by the provincial Power Commission Act to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies already operating at Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...
.
It soon developed its own generation resources by buying private generation stations and then becoming a major designer and builder of new stations. As most of the readily developed hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
sites were exploited, the corporation expanded into building first coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
fired generation and then nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. It had become one of the largest, fully integrated electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
corporations in North America by the 1990s.
In 1999, Ontario Hydro was split up into five successor companies.
History
Energy policy focused on hydro-electric power and the formation in 1906 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (HEPC). HEPC was a unique hybrid of a government department, a crown corporation, and a municipal cooperative that coexisted with the existing private companies. It was a "politically rational" rather than a "technically efficient" solution that depended on the watershed election of 1905 that saw the Conservatives replace the Liberals. The first chairman was Adam BeckAdam Beck
Sir Adam Beck was a politician and hydroelectricity advocate who founded the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario.-Biography:...
, minister without portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
in the provincial government of Sir James P. Whitney. Beck had been a prominent advocate of a publicly owned electricity grid. In 1907, Toronto City Council approves the development and public control of hydro-electric power, thanks to the leadership and commitment of Adam Beck's ally, William Peyton Hubbard
William Peyton Hubbard
William Peyton Hubbard , City of Toronto Alderman from 1894 to 1914, was a popular and influential politician, of particular historical note as the city's first politician of African descent.-Early years:...
. The son of a freed slave from Virginia, Hubbard was first elected to Toronto City Council in 1894. Together Beck and Hubbard made a formidable team, Beck fighting for public ownership province-wide, and Hubbard taking the lead at the municipal level.
The first transmission lines began providing power to southwestern Ontario in 1910. Beck was knighted in 1914 for his work in electrifying Ontario.
In the 1920s the commission began generating and distributing its own power when it was given the mandate to electrify rural areas. Besides building its own generating stations, it bought the transmission lines and generators of the largest private electricity company. In 1948, HEPCO changed most of its system from 25 Hz to 60 Hz. However, the Fort Erie area south of Niagara Falls stayed on the remaining 25 Hz generators until 1966, and this area had electricity throughout the 1965 Eastern Seaboard Blackout
Northeast Blackout of 1965
The Northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on November 9, 1965, affecting Ontario, Canada and Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey in the United States...
.
By the 1950s the commission was operating as a single integrated system. As demand rose in the post-war period, Ontario Hydro started expanding its generation system bringing on line many new hydroelectric stations. In 1953, Ontario Hydro began to interconnect with other utilities, the first interconnection being the Keith-Waterman 230,000 volt transmission line in Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
which crosses the Detroit River
Detroit River
The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
to Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
interconnecting with Detroit Edison
Detroit Edison
The Detroit Edison Company, founded in 1903, is an investor-owned electric utility which serves most of Southeast Michigan. Its parent company, DTE Energy , provides energy services to a variety of clients beyond Detroit Edison's service area.- History :...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Shortly thereafter, other interconnections with New York State were built. The first coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
fired generating stations in the system were also built in this period. The expansion of coal continued during the 1960s and 1970s but was overtaken by the development of nuclear power.
By the late 1950s the corporation also started getting involved in development, design and construction of CANDU nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
stations, with the first commercial sized one coming on line in 1965 at Douglas Point
Douglas Point
The Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station was Canada’s first full-scale nuclear power plant and the second CANDU Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor....
.
In the 1960s, HEPCO was the first utility in North America to utilize ultra-high voltage transmission lines. Planning for the UHV lines began in 1960 and in 1967, HEPCO put into service transmission lines carrying 500,000 volts that carry power from hydroelectric sources in remote Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
to high load areas in southern Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
such as Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, and Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. During the 1970s and 80's, Ontario Hydro gradually expanded the 500KV transmission system into what it is today.
During the 1960s and 1970s Ontario Hydro's nuclear generating program expanded with the building of the first four units of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Pickering, Ontario. The facility derives its name from the City of Pickering in which it is located....
followed by stations at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station
Bruce Nuclear Generating Station
Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, in the communities of Inverhuron and Tiverton, Ontario. It occupies 932 ha of land. The facility derives its name from Bruce County in which it is located, in the former Bruce Township...
and a second four units at Pickering. By the late 1980s, Ontario Hydro operated one of the largest fleets of nuclear powered generating stations in the world.
By 1970 all but the most remote municipal power systems in Ontario were organized into a single grid.
In 1974 the Power Corporation Act reorganized the system as a crown corporation called Ontario Hydro, the name it was most usually known by. In many Canadian provinces, including Ontario, hydroelectric power is so common that "hydro" has become synonymous with electric power regardless of the actual source of the electricity.
In 1989, Ontario Hydro published a 4-volume study, up to the year 2014, under the title "Providing the Balance of Power
Providing the Balance of Power
"Providing the Balance of Power. Ontario Hydro's Plan to Serve Customers' Electricity Needs" was a massive 4-volume 1989 study to the year 2014 by Ontario Hydro, the then supplier of electric power for the province of Ontario, Canada...
. Ontario Hydro's Plan to Serve Customers' Electricity Needs." with different scenarios attempting to solve the need for additional facilities to replace aging electricity generation stations. This was derailed when electricity growth rates declined due to the recession of the early 1990s.
Following what had seemed to be excellent operation in the early years, problems with the construction of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Clarington, Ontario. The facility derives its name from the Township of Darlington, the former name of the municipality in which it is located.The Darlington station is a large...
and less than adequate maintenance with the existing nuclear stations lead to extended shutdowns and large increases in the rates charged.
In 1998, the Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
government of Mike Harris
Mike Harris
Michael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
passed the Energy Competition Act which authorized the establishment of a market in electricity. In April 1999, Ontario Hydro was re-organized into five companies: Ontario Power Generation
Ontario Power Generation
Ontario Power Generation is a public company wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. OPG is responsible for approximately 70% of the electricity generation in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Sources of electricity include nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and fossil fuel...
(OPG), the Ontario Hydro Services Company (later renamed Hydro One
Hydro One
Hydro One Incorporated delivers electricity across the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a Corporation established under the Business Corporations Act with a single shareholder, the Government of Ontario....
), the Independent Electricity Market Operator (later renamed the Independent Electricity System Operator
Independent Electricity System Operator
The Independent Electricity System Operator is a Crown corporation responsible for operating the electricity market and directing the operation of the bulk electrical system in the province of Ontario, Canada...
), the Electrical Safety Authority, and Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation. The two commercial companies, Ontario Power Generation
Ontario Power Generation
Ontario Power Generation is a public company wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. OPG is responsible for approximately 70% of the electricity generation in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Sources of electricity include nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and fossil fuel...
and Hydro One
Hydro One
Hydro One Incorporated delivers electricity across the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a Corporation established under the Business Corporations Act with a single shareholder, the Government of Ontario....
, were intended to eventually operate as private businesses rather than as crown corporations.
OPG was incorporated on April 1, 1999.