Most electricity in Canada is generated using hydropower, coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear energy. Some production is done with alternative fuels like geothermal energy, wind power, biomass, solar energy, or fuel cells.

The electricity you buy may be generated using one or more of these methods. No matter what fuels produce the electricity you use, your lights shine, your radio plays, and your computer runs in the same way.

Hydropower

The majority of electricity used in Canada is generated at hydroelectric facilities. Hydroelectric energy is the main source of electricity in Canada, representing nearly two-thirds of all electricity produced. Hydroelectric plants use the power of falling water to turn the turbines that help generate electricity. Water that is stored behind a dam is released and directed through special tubes to flow against the blades of turbines and make them turn.

Canada has abundant water resources and a geography that provides many opportunities to produce low-cost hydroelectric energy. In fact, accessing the energy from flowing waters has played an important role in the economic and social development of Canada for the past three centuries

Fossil Fuels

About one-quarter of the electricity produced in Canada is generated from power plants that burn fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) to heat water and make steam. The highly pressurized steam is directed at the blades of turbines to make them spin.

Coal, oil, and natural gas are known as fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilized remains of animals or plants that lived long ago. Even before the dinosaurs, these plants and animals died and settled to the bottom of lakes and oceans to be covered over by sand and mud. Over millions of years, the earth’s pressure and heat converted their remains into coal, oil, and natural gas.

Coal is a hard, black, rock-like substance made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. The precursor to coal, called "peat," is used as an energy source in many countries. Coal is found in many parts of Canada and throughout the rest of the world. Coal is extracted from the ground at large mines.

Oil is a liquid fossil fuel, sometimes also called petroleum. It is found underground within porous rocks. Oil rigs must drill down to deposits deep below the earth's surface to obtain oil. Less than half of all the oil we use in Canada comes from outside our country.

Natural gas is made up primarily of a gas called methane. Methane gas is highly flammable and burns very cleanly. Natural gas is usually found underground along with oil. Natural gas supplies are abundant from sources in Canada and the United States.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power plants use the heat from splitting atoms to convert water into the steam that turns turbines. These plants rely on uranium, a type of metal that must be mined from the ground and specially processed. Fuel rods containing uranium are placed next to each other in a machine called a nuclear reactor. The reactor causes the uranium atoms to split and in so doing, they release a tremendous amount of heat.

Geothermal Energy

Steam (or hot water converted to steam) from under the ground is used to turn turbines.

Wind Power

The force of the wind is used to spin many small turbines. Most wind power is produced from wind farms — large groups of turbines located in consistently windy locations.

Biomass

Biomass is organic matter, such as agricultural wastes and wood chips and bark left over when lumber is produced. Biomass can be burned in an incinerator to heat water to make steam, which turns a turbine to make electricity. It can also be converted into a gas, which can be burned to do the same thing.

Solar Energy

Solar energy is generated without a turbine or electromagnet. Special panels of photovoltaic cells capture light from the sun and convert it directly into electricity. The electricity is stored in a battery.

Fuel Cells

Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction.

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