In the province of Ontario, industrial customers account for approximately one third of total electricity energy consumption in the province and one quarter of coincident peak demand amounting to an expected 6,000 Mega-Watts (MW) of industrial peak demand by the end of 2010. A group of less than one-hundred large companies consume approximately half of the electricity energy in the Ontario industrial sector, primarily large industrials involved in resource extraction activities. The remaining industrial electricity consumption in Ontario is consumed by thousands of smaller entities across the province. A summary of Ontario industry electricity consumption is illustrated in figure 1 (Keyes et al., 2006, 9).

This paper will discuss the research and analysis undertaken in the development of a holistic industrial energy efficiency strategy focused on enabling system-oriented electricity energy savings. The strategy suggests that significant savings can be enabled through a focus on capacity building in concert with system-oriented process optimization strategies.

Two key challenges in designing the strategy were 1) addressing the diversity of activities in the sector and; 2) addressing the low levels of capability and capacity in industrial conservation and demand management (CDM) resources due to the lack of a coordinated or resourced CDM electricity strategy in the sector for some time.