Empire Club of Canada
June 12, 2024
Lesley Gallinger
President and CEO, IESO
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• Thank you, Sal, for inviting me to provide context for today’s conversation.
• And we are delighted to have our new Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries, the
Honourable Sam Oosterhoff, joining us today.
• I appreciate the Empire Club facilitating this important dialogue on the energy transition, which is
key to the economic and social well-being of everyone in Canada, with lasting impacts on the
legacy we will leave for future generations.
• The Great Energy Transition is transforming our communities, our economy, and our society.
• After decades of stable demand and energy surplus, Ontario’s electricity system faces
unprecedented growth.
• The IESO’s latest forecasts predict that demand will increase at a rapid rate for the next 25 years
– in response to growing upward pressure to support more people, more homes, significant
economic growth, and the electrification of our economy.
• At the same time, we are working to decarbonize Ontario’s electricity system, which means
expanding our non-emitting fleet by building more nuclear, hydro, wind, and solar.
• To decarbonize the broader economy, though, is a much bigger undertaking.
• It requires the transformation of entire sectors – like transportation, industry, and agriculture and
extends to how we heat and cool our homes and other buildings.
• All of this equates to as much as 60 per cent more electricity being consumed by 2050 versus the
amount we use today.
• And therein lies the challenge.
• We need to grow and decarbonize the grid simultaneously, during a period of significant change,
all the while balancing reliability, affordability and sustainability.
• Based on the IESO’s Pathways to Decarbonization report, upsizing the system to the extent
needed is a monumental task.
• We will require a potential six-fold increase in the existing workforce to build projects.
• We will need land, with siting requirements estimated to be approximately 14 times the size of
Toronto.
• And most importantly, we will need capital to build new resources and upgrade existing
technologies.
• At the bulk system level alone, the IESO has estimated the cost to be in the order of 400 billion
dollars.
• And what is critically important – as we embark upon on a build out of our system – is the pace
at which we do so in order to maintain reliability and affordability.
• We must stay ahead of demand, building the system, anticipating economic growth, and seizing
opportunities to maintain Ontario’s clean electricity advantage to position us as energy leaders
long into the future.
• So that’s the challenge – and the opportunity – of the Great Energy Transition.
• Strengthening the system in an orderly and thoughtful manner to balance reliability, affordability
and sustainability – at every step of the process – as we capitalize on the significant economic
opportunity that the energy transition presents.
• I’m pleased to say, from the perspective of the system operator and planner, Ontario is in a
strong position.
• Thanks to the hard work of our sector, which includes generators; transmitters; local distribution
companies; municipalities and Indigenous communities.
• And my colleagues at the IESO that I am privileged to work with every day.
• Our collective efforts to prepare for and manage the transition are proving successful,
demonstrated by the flurry of investment in our province.
• The strength and diversity of our current grid has proven to be both an enabler and catalyst for
significant economic growth – evidenced by some 50 billion dollars being invested in our province
by Volkswagen, Honda, Stellantis, and many more.
• The momentum of that investment will attract even more, and serves as an important signal that
our work to facilitate the Great Energy Transition should continue.
• That’s why, as the entity at the heart of the sector, the IESO is doing its utmost to ensure an
orderly transition.
• We are leading the sector during a period of unparalleled growth – the likes of which Ontario has
never seen.
• And we are focussed on expanding Ontario’s electricity system responsibly – at the right pace and
in the right place to meet rapid growth – to make sure electricity is available where and when it is
needed, and at a cost that is affordable
• At the IESO, we recognize we cannot do this alone.
• It will take shared contributions from everyone in and outside our sector.
• We need to work with our generators, financial institutions, municipalities and Indigenous
communities.
• To find compromise, share risk, and find new and better solutions to build out our electricity
system.
• That is why I am so pleased to have been invited to introduce today’s panel, who can provide
their perspective as leaders in our sector on how to enable the Great Energy Transition
• I will start by introducing today’s moderator, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Vice-Chair, Global
Investment Banking, CIBC Capital Markets.
• Lisa joined CIBC in January 2020, and currently focuses on senior client coverage and business
development with clients in the energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors.
• Prior to that, she was President and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority…
• And in 2008 elected into the House of Commons where she went on to hold three senior
portfolios serving as:
• Minister of Natural Resources,
• Minister of Labour, and
• Minister of Transport.
• Lisa, thank you for joining us, I look forward to today’s discussion, and turn things over to you.