It varies by a few percentage points from year to year, but today on an energy basis, 60% or just above 60% of the electrical energy produced in Canada comes from hydro power. There used to be a projection from NRCan that it was going to go down, but in more recent years that has actually been reversed and the hydro power percentage is going back up again. It is projected to continue doing that.
Secondly, in terms of how much hydro power potential we have left in Canada, our organization did an extensive survey with a consultant four or five years ago. It was a little bit surprising to find out how much technical potential there is, and I don't remember exact numbers, but if you developed all the technical potential in Canada you could have something like 350% of the amount we already have today. However, not all of that is going to be developable either, because it's on heritage rivers or very sensitive or just too expensive. So a doubling or tripling, probably closer to a doubling, is practical. Now, what would that do to the percentage of electricity generated in Canada? It would go up, obviously, but I don't have the percentage it would go to.
Once Ontario shuts down its coal, they have to find out where their alternatives are going to come from. There are real possibilities out there. I don't expect hydro will ever be 100%, and I don't think that would be desirable. You want to have a bit of a mix of resources. Hydro is a good backup for wind, for example. Also, for some baseload, like nuclear, there are some advantages to having hydro, which is flexible.
There is no optimal number I could give you, but we're unusually high in Canada compared to other countries, that's for sure.