Haldimand County will receive $500,000 from Ontario Power Generation to help “explore opportunities” for new energy production at the former Nanticoke coal-fired plant, as the province considers bringing electricity generation back to the site over a decade after it was shut down.
The “growth readiness funding” will allow the municipality and OPG to begin community consultations and planning for new “firm” energy generation, including the possibility of small modular reactors (SMRs), the province announced Wednesday. Firm energy refers to electricity that can be produced reliably on demand, unlike wind or solar power.
While no decision has been made on what technology will ultimately be built, Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said hydrogen, natural gas and nuclear are the leading options.
“We’ve not made any decisions on technology. That will only follow meaningful engagement,” Lecce told a news conference in front of transmission infrastructure at the site of the Nanticoke facility, once the largest coal-fired plant in North America.
The announcement is the latest step in Ontario’s push to expand electricity generation. The province says demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 90 per cent by 2050.
Lecce said Nanticoke is uniquely positioned for a new power project because much of the infrastructure is already in place.
The 364-hectare property is already zoned and permitted for up to 3,000 megawatts of electricity generation, and has access to high-voltage transmission lines, rail service and a port.
“This is a jewel of land, and it’s unacceptable it has not been delivering value,” Lecce said.
He said while natural gas could be built within a few years, an SMR would likely take closer to a decade.
The funding will also allow Haldimand County and neighbouring communities to better understand what different projects could mean, said Kim Lauritsen, OPG’s senior vice-president of enterprise strategy and growth.
“We have not made a decision about what generation type,” Lauritsen said. “The funding allows the community to have the capacity to understand how we need to plan for that.”
Haldimand County Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley said the money will be used to educate residents, engage neighbouring municipalities and Indigenous partners, and gather feedback before any decisions are made.
“We’ll use these funds to get this conversation started in a positive manner.”
Bentley said she hopes to see new energy generation on the site within five to 10 years.
For Haldimand Deputy Mayor Deborah McKeen, Wednesday’s announcement was also deeply personal.
McKeen spent 27 years working at the Nanticoke Generating Station after becoming the plant’s first female maintenance mechanic in 1986. She was among the workers who left when the station closed in 2013.
“My reaction to today’s news is absolutely ecstatic,” she said.
She recalled a workplace with strong camaraderie and a sense of pride in supplying electricity during periods of peak demand across Ontario.
“We knew we were important to the province. We were supplying hydro, and we were proud to do it.”
McKeen said the site already has infrastructure that would take years and billions of dollars to replicate elsewhere.
“Basically, we have a diamond sitting here. We need to showcase it and put it back in service for the province.”
The plant, which was closed under the former Liberal government, was Ontario’s largest coal-fired power plant and, for years, the province’s single biggest source of air pollution.
A federal report found that in 2000, it emitted 7,640 tonnes of toxic pollutants — more than the combined total of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The Kathleen Wynne government made ending coal power a keystone of their policy.
Ontario’s Nanticoke is Canada’s worst polluter
Lecce acknowledged there was “virtue in decarbonizing,” but criticized the previous government for not doing enough to replace the long-term jobs lost when the plant shut down.
“This community faced a great deal of hardship,” he said.
While he would not estimate how many jobs a future Nanticoke project could create without first selecting a technology, Lecce pointed to the four SMRs planned at Darlington as an example. He said those projects are expected to create between 18,000 and 19,000 construction jobs and about 3,700 permanent jobs.
“Eighty per cent of small modular reactors are sourced using made-in-Canada, made-in-Ontario components.”
Haldimand County Council passed a motion in 2024 in support of nuclear energy in Nanticoke. The county has had a moratorium on wind power development in place since 2013.
Business leaders say a major energy project would benefit the wider region, not just Haldimand.
“Major energy projects of this scale and potential create broad regional opportunities,” said Renée VanKooten, president of the Simcoe and District Chamber of Commerce.
“This is more than an energy project. It is a catalyst for prosperity across both counties.”
