Re:Canada? (Score 1)

In Ontario, our peak electrical demand comes with hot summer days. See, we mostly heat our houses with natural gas, but we mostly cool them with electricity. And when do our houses get hottest? When the sun is shining brightly! So the whole thing makes perfect sense (as does the $0.42/kWh) when viewed correctly as a PEAK energy producer and a peak energy cost. The average cost of electricity here is way lower, I know, but on an August day when we really need it, $0.42 will seem like a bargain. The alternative is firing up gas turbines or coal plants, neither of which makes the cities much cooler or the air more breathable. The nukes are already running at full tilt (on those peak days) and hydro actually drops off in the heat of summer (due to lower water levels.)

So, don't view this a bulk energy solution -- we all recognize that it's too expensive for that. This, and a few hundred more MW of solar installations will give us some diversity and prevent us from buying expensive peak power from New York State, or indeed, falling right over into rolling blackouts.