Electricity generation from combustibles and renewables sharply increase amid another dry year: Electricity year in review 2025

Electricity generated from all sources in Canada totalled 625.2 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2025, up 2.6% over 2024 and enough electricity to power 56 million homes for a year. Meanwhile, electricity available for consumption jumped 3.6% to 618.3 million MWh.

However, much like in 2023 and 2024, many regions in Canada continued to be affected by persistent and widespread drought conditions in 2025. As a result, hydroelectric generation, Canada’s single-largest generation source, remained muted.

In 2025, hydroelectricity totalled 343.4 million MWh, slightly higher (+0.5%) than 2024’s record low of 341.8 million MWh. Hydroelectricity represented just over half (54.9%) of Canada’s total generation in 2025, marking the lowest share since this series was redesigned in 2016.

In contrast to hydroelectricity, electricity generation from combustible fuels increased in 2025. This fuel type includes anything burned to generate electricity in a turbine, such as natural gas, coal, fuel oil, diesel and biomass like wood.

In 2025, combustibles totalled 143.4 million MWh, up 6.6% year over year and reaching the highest level since the series was redesigned in 2016. In 2025, combustible electricity represented 22.9% of Canada’s total generation, its highest share since the series redesign.

The overall increase was driven by Ontario, where generation from combustibles was up by nearly one-quarter (+23.7%) year over year, partly to compensate for the province’s lower nuclear generation.

Nuclear electricity generation edged down 0.2% year over year to 81.6 million MWh in 2025, its lowest level since the series was redesigned. Two provinces currently generate nuclear electricity—Ontario and New Brunswick—with Ontario (96%) accounting for the vast majority in 2025.

Over the past decade, various units at generating stations in Ontario have been taken offline as part of multi-year refurbishment projects to extend their service lives, resulting in lower generation levels. As a result, nuclear generation in Ontario was 2.1% lower in 2025 than in 2024.

In contrast, generation at New Brunswick’s sole nuclear site rose 86.6% to 3.3 million MWh in 2025, due to the station being offline for maintenance from April to December 2024. While higher than it was in 2024, New Brunswick’s nuclear generation level in 2025 was its second-lowest level since the series was redesigned, as additional maintenance required an outage from July to December.

In total, nuclear accounted for 13.0% of Canada’s total electricity generation in 2025.

Electricity generation from wind turbines grew 10.1% year over year to 50.5 million MWh in 2025, while solar climbed 13.9% to 6.0 million MWh. Both were record highs and, combined, they accounted for 9.0% of Canada’s total generation, their largest share to date.

Wind generation in Alberta rose 16.5% to 14.9 million MWh, replacing Ontario as Canada’s largest wind generator in 2025. Alberta led the country in solar generation as well, increasing by more than one-quarter (+26.6%) year over year to 3.5 million MWh.

In 2025, total imports of electricity from the United States, Canada’s lone electricity trade partner, jumped 8.2% to 25.2 million MWh, the highest level observed since the series was redesigned. In contrast, exports fell 10.4% to 32.1 million MWh, a series low.

As previously mentioned, parts of Canada have been struggling with dry conditions since at least 2023, impacting hydroelectric generation. This shortfall, combined with steadily growing domestic demand, has meant less electricity is available for export to the United States, which is an important revenue source for some provinces, including Quebec and Manitoba.

Prior to 2024, electricity imports never exceeded exports. However, in the last two years, Canada was a net importer during the months of February, March and April 2024 and in March, October, November and December 2025.

Electricity imports to Quebec (+91.5% to 7.4 million MWh) represented the largest share of the overall growth in imports in 2025, positioning Quebec as the second-highest importer in Canada, behind British Columbia. Typically, British Columbia has the highest imports due to its system of very actively buying or selling electricity as prices fluctuate. In contrast, Quebec has historically imported almost no electricity. From 2016 to 2022, before the worst of the drought conditions set in, Quebec imported an average of 174 000 MWh a year.

Manitoba (-42.3% to 3.5 million MWh) was responsible for the largest share of the overall decrease in electricity exports in 2025, followed by Quebec (-29.4% to 4.2 million MWh). For both provinces, this was the lowest export level since the series redesign. To further illustrate the effects of the drought, from 2016 to 2022, Manitoba’s exports averaged 8.5 million MWh annually, while Quebec’s exports during the same period averaged 25.3 million MWh.

Did you know? Statistics Canada also publishes down-to-the-minute electricity data through the High-frequency electricity data visualization tool.

For more information on energy in Canada, including production, consumption, international trade and much more, visit the Canadian Centre for Energy Information portal and follow #energynews on social media.

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