Coal will account for less than 1% of Ontario’s energy supply by 2014, according to Chris Bentley, Minister of Energy for Ontario.
On Thursday the government announced that it would be closing the province’s largest coal-fired electricity plants, Nanticoke and Lambton, by the end of December 2013.
In 2001 Nanitocke was the largest single source of greenhouse gases according to Environment Canada
A remaining coal plant in Thunder Bay will close by the end of 2014.
Energy will come from renewables and natural gas plants.
The Ontario Liberals first promised to the close the plants in 2007 but pushed the deadline out when they couldn’t make up the energy shortfall.
“In 2003, coal accounted for 25 per cent of our generation; now, it’s less than 3 per cent. And in 2014, Ontario’s use of coal is expected to be less than 1 per cent of total mix, eventually falling to zero,” writes Bentley.
Data from Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan