Early Coal Plant Phase-out Can be Achieved
OCAA acknowledged, however, that those conditions would raise electricity rates in Ontario by 3.3%, but the costs would be outweighed by gains in air quality and public health.
OCAA said that canceling coal-fired power exports in 2010 will reduce Ontario's projected coal-fired generation by 50% and will raise rates by no more than 1%. Replacing the remaining coal-fired generation with generation from the new gas plants would raise rates another 2.3%.
Ontario's government originally had promised to shut down province-owned Ontario Power Generation's four remaining coal plants by the end of 2007. Later, it extended that deadline to early 2009 and then to the end of 2014.
"Advancing the coal phase-out date from 2014 to 2010 will save over 3,000 lives, prevent up to 1.6 million asthma attacks and provide 50 to 80% of the total greenhouse gas emission reductions Ontario needs to achieve compliance with its Kyoto Protocol target for 2010," said OCAA Chairman Jack Gibbons.
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In the first six months of the year, Germany generated 82.6 kWh of electricity from coal, up 17 per cent from the same period last year, according to data from Destatis, the national statistics office, published on Wednesday. The leap means almost one-third of German electricity generation now comes from coal-fired plants, up from 27 per cent last year. Production from natural…
