Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to appear before this committee.
I am the vice-president of planning, conservation and resource adequacy and chief energy transition officer for Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator. My role is to ensure the long-term reliability, affordability and sustainability of Ontario's bulk electricity system, and my responsibilities include long-term system planning, overseeing the acquisition of new generation and other system infrastructure, and the delivery of energy efficiency programming.
I am joined today by my colleague Barbara Ellard, our director of resource and system adequacy, whose role is focused on acquiring generation and other system resources. Barbara led the commercial negotiations on the Lake Erie connector project.
As background, the Independent Electricity System Operator, or IESO, is the provincial agency accountable in legislation for maintaining the reliability of Ontario's electricity system. We operate and ensure the reliability of Ontario's power grid in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, balancing supply and demand in Ontario and into neighbouring jurisdictions. We also plan for the reliability, affordability and sustainability of Ontario's electricity system over the long term, ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to meet the province's needs up to 30 years into the future.
I believe it is important to note that the IESO does not own any of the system's assets or infrastructure. We are an independent operator and planner of the entire system. We ensure that all of our assets are working in unison and ensure the reliability of Ontario's electricity system without having any financial interest in the assets themselves. We can be compared to air traffic controllers, who don't own the airplanes or the runways, but instead of safely guiding planes, we move electrons around the system so that Ontario continues to have reliable access to electricity where and when the province needs it.
As I noted at the beginning of my remarks, one of my responsibilities at IESO is to oversee the assessment and potential acquisition of new electricity infrastructure projects, often through competitive procurement processes or through bilateral negotiations. This work included assessing the value of, and subsequently negotiating a commercial contract for, the Lake Erie connector project that was being developed by ITC Holdings. These negotiations concluded in 2022, when ITC Holdings decided not to pursue the project, citing macroeconomic changes as impacting the overall project.
What I would highlight is that the focus of any IESO involvement in the project was to ensure the best value for Ontario's ratepayers. Through this lens, our assessment at the time showed that the project, and its negotiated agreement, was expected to be of value to Ontario's ratepayers by contributing to the reliability and affordability of our electricity system.
For context, Ontario has transmission interconnections with neighbouring provinces and states, including Quebec, Manitoba, New York, Minnesota and Michigan. Through these interconnections, we import and export electricity daily through our electricity markets. This adds competition that helps drive down costs, allows us to more efficiently use the assets within Ontario and serves as a crucial source of supply when Ontario is experiencing tight conditions on the system.
We became aware of Canada Infrastructure Bank's involvement in early 2021. Overall, the focus of our interactions with the CIB was limited to understanding what its financial impact on the project would be for Ontario's ratepayers, as well as sharing our views on the value of the project to Ontario. The IESO was not party to any agreements between CIB and ITC, and if the project had proceeded, our contractual relationship would have been only with ITC.
With that, I thank you for this opportunity, and we look forward to answering questions.