Powering Southwest Ontario

Dotted with beaches, parks and trails, agricultural lands — and home to Canada’s largest cluster of greenhouses and manufacturing workforce — southwest Ontario has a diverse landscape and economic makeup. That’s why the IESO is exploring a variety of options and scenarios that incorporate new and strengthened transmission lines, generation, energy-efficiency programs, and other electricity infrastructure.

Where It's Happening

The Southwest planning area spans from Guelph in the east through to Windsor in the west, and includes the Niagara region.

Why It's Happening

Across Ontario, electricity demand is forecast to grow significantly over the next 25 years. In the southwest, electricity demand is expected to increase by 73 per cent by the year 2050 where drivers include residential and commercial growth; high-tech industrial and manufacturing facilities that increasingly rely on electricity to power operations; and greenhouses driving demand growth, especially during winter.

What's Happening

Planning

Every five years, the IESO develops an integrated regional plan for a specific area of the province. Critical to this work is understanding local characteristics — based on growth and development — and gathering local insights, all of which helps connect to the broader needs of the province.

Southwest Ontario is a hotbed of activity with new transmission lines in operation, and others in the process of being built or recommended to further grow and strengthen the provincial grid. In addition, targeted Save on Energy incentives will continue to help consumers better manage their electricity costs and address local system needs.

Regional Planning in Southwest Ontario

At the same time, the IESO’s bulk planning assesses provincial needs by helping to connect electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed across the high-voltage transmission lines that span the province; preserve new or expanded corridors for future development; and link with neighbouring jurisdictions for additional reliability.

Ongoing Bulk Planning in Southwest Ontario

Procurements

With electricity demand set to grow across Ontario and in the southwest, the IESO is in the midst of securing new generation and storage — including Ontario’s largest competitive electricity procurement — to support economic development, population growth, electrification of the economy, and to replace aging assets on the system.

Previously, the IESO’s first Expedited (E-LT1) and Long-Term (LT1) Request for Proposals completed in 2024 and the largest battery energy storage procurement in Canadian history, offered contracts to 25 new facilities with 12 of them located in southwest Ontario.

Resource Acquisitions

Energy Efficiency

The IESO, through Save on Energy, offers incentives and resources for homes, businesses, and industry to reduce electricity consumption and make energy-efficiency projects more affordable.

Greenhouses are an important part of the southwest economy, and Save on Energy offers a series of agricultural incentives through the Retrofit program that allow greenhouse operators to leverage a variety of technologies and products.
In some areas of the province where electricity constraints exist — including the Greater Windsor Area and Niagara — regional adders have been introduced that increase the incentive to implement energy-saving measures.

Land Acknowledgement

The IESO acknowledges that southwest Ontario is the traditional territory of many nations including the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Attawandaron, Lunaapeew, and Métis people, encompassing areas covered by the Upper Canada Treaties.

The IESO would also like to acknowledge all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and their valuable past and present contributions to this land.