We are at our children’s home in Calgary as I write this column. Winter arrived Saturday night and seems intent on staying for a few days.
When we travel, the electronics come with us. I have a computer. My wife has a computer. My Android watch and our cell phones all require charging cables. Between the gadgets and cords, they fill an entire backpack. Even my mouse needs recharging. The bag weighs more than 10 kilograms – but we couldn’t travel without it.
I think back three decades to when our sons were young and we travelled across Canada. Our entertainment came from CDs spinning in the car stereo, and we relied on provincial and state maps to guide us. I would study the route each evening so I’d know what turns to expect the next day. Somehow, we seldom got lost.
Today, Google Maps handles the navigating. Eight hundred metres before an exit, it politely reminds us to turn – something it’s been announcing for the last three hundred kilometres. The technology is wonderful. Cell phones are wonderful, too – unless one rings while you’re being interviewed by a customs officer. (He wasn’t amused.) And then, with perfect certainty, your phone declares, “You are at your destination.”
We couldn’t live without these conveniences now. Soon we’ll all be driving electric vehicles, which will bring new demands for power – power we don’t yet generate.
As you drive across the Prairies, you can’t miss the acres of solar panels and the endless rows of wind turbines harvesting carbon-free energy. The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) of Ontario projects that within the next two decades, the province will need to produce twice as much power as it does today. One major transmission project, now in the planning stage, will run north of Dryden.
This expansion is driven largely by the expected growth in mining north of Dryden. To support that growth, major new power generation and storage facilities will be needed in Northwestern Ontario. It promises to become a significant new industry – and a source of well-paying jobs. Building and maintaining solar farms and wind farms will create employment, as will the development of massive battery storage systems.
The wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine, but these battery farms will store energy when demand is low and release it when it’s needed. It’s an entirely new industry taking shape – one that holds tremendous potential for development right here in our district.
