Meaford Pumped Storage

I would like to provide one brief clarification regarding the project’s impact on Ontario’s electricity system.

Ontario currently meets its electricity needs reliably, and the province frequently exports surplus electricity to the United States. There is no present supply shortage, no reliability crisis, and no demonstrated need for additional storage capacity of this scale.

Since pumped storage is a net consumer of electricity, this project will require additional power generation capacity for decades. This permanent increase in demand is a material adverse effect, particularly in a province that already has surplus generation. Any assessment of the project’s purported benefits must therefore consider whether the services it claims to provide are actually needed, and whether those benefits justify the increased system load and associated environmental, economic, and social impacts.

Given the proponent’s clear incentive to present favourable assumptions and modelling outcomes, I request that all technical modelling submitted by TC Energy — including grid impacts, demand forecasts, economic projections, and round‑trip efficiency calculations — be independently verified by the Agency and relevant federal departments, rather than accepted at face value.

Thank you for considering my comment.