What it will take to meet soaring electricity demand

By 2050, electricity demand in Canada is forecast to double. Meeting that demand will require 2.2 to 3.4 times more supply capacity. At the same time the grid needs to be built up, it also needs to be built clean.

It’s an historic challenge, one that will eclipse even nation-building projects like the construction of the Canadian Pacific railways and St. Lawrence Seaway.

PPF President and CEO Edward Greenspon spoke with BBN Bloomberg about the scale of what needs to be done, and why it will require a new way of thinking.

“We have to do in the next quarter century what we did in the last century,” said Greenspon, about the need to build more supply.

“It is a huge, monumental undertaking – I don’t think people can appreciate how vast it is,” added Greenspon, who is a co-author of Project of the Century: A blueprint for growing Canada’s clean electricity supply – and fast.

The task ahead calls for what in a football game would be called a hurry-up offence, said Greenspon. “There’s a point in the game where time is running out, you’re behind and you need to play the game in a different style. That’s what we need to do in Canada.”

Watch the full interview: