Could offshore wind in the Great Lakes provide the cheap, clean power Ontario needs?

Ontario needs more electricity — and lots of it.

As demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps ramp up, projections show the province will need to more than double its generation capacity by 2050.

While Queen’s Park has committed to building new natural gas plants and one the the world’s first small nuclear reactors, energy sector experts say there’s a better way.

Offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes could provide enough carbon-free energy to meet all of Ontario’s growing demand at nearly half the cost of new nuclear reactors, according to a new report published by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

But there’s a problem: Ontario declared a moratorium on offshore wind projects in 2011.

“It was in response to political pressure that they put the moratorium on wind power in the Great Lakes,” said Jack Gibbons, chair of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance and a former Toronto Hydro commissioner.

The situation has changed, he said.