The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Fm Press www.powerauthority.on.ca For Further Information go to: http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/Page.asp?PagelD=1224SiteNode|D=383BL_Expand|D Rapid Response Power Generation In Northern York Region â€" The Facts What is It? o A gas-tired. simple cycle. electncity generating lacilityl 0 Capable of generating 350 megawatts (MW) of electvlcity almost at the flip of switch. How w!" n open"? 0 Fueled by Natmal Gas Why Natural Gas? 0 Natural Gas is key component of Onunox plan to ehmmate coal-fired generanon Why 350 MW, couldn't we do with a much smaller facility? 0 Today, the peak demand needs of the area are about 30MW â€" however that will only grow in the future. The CPA must plan for reliability now as well as needs that are 20 years down the road. - Thearea's pmerneedshavegrown consistentlyatabout 3% peryear â€" despite many weather variations, conservation and demand management successes. The Government of Ontario has designated the area a Growth Centre â€" requiring that the power infrastructure is ready to power up on demand. 0 This facility will serve to help balance load and supply for Northern York Region as well as for all of Ontario, as part of the OPAS mandate that the province's power system be reliable and balanced. Why was a peaking plant chosen over a coâ€"generation facility? 0 A coâ€"generation faCIIIty operates all the time â€" ussng much more Natural Gas and generally further emissmns‘ How big will it be? A 350 MW facility footprint requires between one and two hectares â€" the equivalent of three or f0ur soccer fields or roughly the size of a box store parking lot. WMMMpamMdedeâ€"m hmm Powergenetauoncanbescaledupocdowntomuhe immediate needs 0! the legion and Ontario: electricity 9nd cmmmmtw-mammcasmm “mamm.mmaumm Natural Gas is one o! the (honest '05:! Inch ht powu genetauon The people of Northern York Region can be proud of their efforts to reduce their consumption of electricity. The results have been impressive. A 30 MW demand reduction target for the community is well in hand and collaborative efforts to surpass the target are continuing. Region residents are working to keep count of every kilowatt too. Can‘twejtstmeleselecuidtytamermangenelafingnm? Unfortunately, reducing peak energy use cannot be the only answer. The only two options remaining are new transmission lines or new power generation from within the Region. In 2005, the people of the Region made it clear - their choice was new generation. Won't this facility use a lot of water? 0 Actually, very little or no water will be used. The turbines are cooled by air, not water. Who is paying for this facility? 0 The electricity generating facility, which will be a system resource, will benefit all Ontario electricity consumers, and its costs will be recovered through charges on customers’ electricity bills. Why so expenslvo a plant that will be used so little? 0 the the capital costs may seem large, when one compares this to the costs of the altematives over the life of this facility, the cost is QUlle reasonable. Shouldn‘t renewable energy sources be considered. like wind or solar? 0 These energy sources aren't sufficiently reliable to meet the specific demand for rapid response generation. Wind doesn't tend to blow hard enough on hot summer days and solar fields require a great deal ol space, 0 The land requrred to create this magnitude of wind power is also significant and costly. To produce the power needed to meet the Region‘s long-term peak demands would require about 220 turbines (generating 1 5 MW each) and many thousand acres of land. Wuhanamdmmmmmonehlgm7 o The land acquasmon and regulatow approval costs of puildipg as well as operatingoneplantareless'thanoperatingasenesofsrnallerones. - Part ol the GPA; mandate is to provide not only the best technical and environmental solutions - as well as solutions that provide the best value for all Ontario ratepayers. A rapid response plant as proposed supports the use of wind and solar power across Ontario's electricity grid. When winds are low or skies not sunny, this gas-fired plant will help meet the province's electricity needs. May 2008