Report incorporates grid benefits, environmental, socioeconomic, and policy considerations
March 23, 2026 – Peterborough, ON – The Ontario Waterpower Association (OWA) has released a new report, Beyond Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE): A Multi-Criteria Analysis of Ontario Electricity Generation Options, prepared by Hatch Ltd.
The report highlights that long-term electricity planning increasingly requires comparing technologies with fundamentally different cost structures, operating characteristics, asset lifetimes, and system roles. While Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) measures cost over an asset’s lifecycle, it does not capture the full range of system benefits, including grid support, or environmental, socioeconomic and policy considerations.
Recognizing the need to consider these broader factors, the report applies a lifetime-adjusted, multi-criteria framework to evaluate certain electricity generation technologies in a structured and transparent manner. The approach is not intended to prefer technologies, but rather to inform the assessment of options.
“Ontario’s Integrated Energy Plan – Energy for Generations – makes it clear that energy policy is about much more than electricity”, said Paul Norris, President of the Ontario Waterpower Association. “This report provides a practical, objective framework for integrating economic, environmental and societal considerations in a transparent and systematic manner.”
“Overall, the results indicate that comparisons of generation technologies can be supported by integrating both cost-based and value-based comparative frameworks”, said Sophie Alrhieh, Regional Manager, Ontario, Hydropower and Dams, Hatch Ltd., the report’s primary author. “Such an approach enables an explicit consideration of affordability, reliability, sustainability, and long-term system resilience, in our evolving electricity system”.
The analysis has several insights for long-term system planning and electricity generation procurements. First, the results indicate that generation comparisons could benefit from explicitly recognizing the long-term value creation associated with technologies that provide benefits in multiple domains, even where upfront costs are higher. Second, the findings suggest that approaches that reflect policy objectives and environmental and socioeconomic benefits can be complementary. Finally, the results highlight the value of frameworks that more fully reflect the range of aggregate system benefits provided by different technologies, including reliability, flexibility, and grid support.
Read the Executive Summary here.
Read the full report here.
About OWA
The OWA is a not-for-profit, member-based organization promoting the sustainable development of waterpower resources in Ontario. Since 2001, the OWA has been representing the common and collective interests of the waterpower industry.
For more information on the Ontario Waterpower Association, visit www.owa.ca.
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