Electricity and Steam Flow in Canada shown in PJ 2022

Click to see detailed description

This diagram illustrates the sources and flows of energy used to generate electricity and steam in Canada. It depicts the contribution of various energy inputs—including hydro, nuclear, natural gas, coal, wind, biomass, refined petroleum products, solar, geothermal, and tidal energy—as well as electricity imports and exports. The diagram also shows the total electricity and steam available for domestic consumption and their distribution across economic sectors.

Hydro and nuclear power together account for approximately 75% of total electricity generation in Canada and represent major sources of clean, low‐emission energy. Among end‐use sectors, the industrial sector is the largest consumer, followed by the residential sector. Combined, these two sectors account for more than 71% of total electricity and steam consumption. The commercial and institutional sector consumes about 27%, while the agricultural sector accounts for roughly 2% of total use.

Input and output data may not balance because the input includes only RESD data and does not capture other external sources used as inputs; these are explained in Appendix A.

Download Sankey PDF (64 KB)
Coal: 275 PJ Coal: 275 Refined Petroleum: 73 PJ Refined Petroleum: 73 Natural Gas: 845 PJ Natural Gas: 845 Nuclear: 952 PJ Nuclear: 952 Solar: 11 PJ Solar: 11 Hydro: 1418 PJ Hydro: 1418 Biomass: 85 PJ Biomass: 85 Geothermal: 0 PJ Geothermal: 0 Wind: 137 PJ Wind: 137 Tidal: 0 PJ Tidal: 0 Wood and Other: 85 Renewable Energy Input: 1736 PJ Renewable Energy Input: 1736 Total Input for Electricity and Steam Production: 3796 PJ Total Input for Electricity and Steam Production 3796 Lost during Generation: 1475 PJ Lost during Generation: 1475 Import: 51 PJ Import: 51 Export: 235 PJ Export: 235 Electricity and Steam Generated: 2320 PJ Electricity and Steam Generated 2320 Total Electricity and Steam Available: 2135 PJ Total Electricity1Input and output data may not balance because the input includes only RESD data and does not capture other external sources used as inputs; these are explained in the Notes tab and Appendix A. and Steam Available 2135 Producer Consumption: 115 PJ Producer Consumption 115 Residential: 645 PJ Residential 645 Commercial and Institutional: 533 PJ Commercial and Institutional 533 Agriculture: 38 PJ Agriculture 38 Transportation: 4 PJ Transportation 4 Industrial: 798 PJ Industrial 798 1: Input and output data may not balance because the input includes only RESD data and does not capture other external sources used as inputs; these are explained in Appendix A. SPAD/OEE/NRCan 2025/10/31

Electricity and Steam Flow

RESD consumption data for electricity and steam by sector is compared to the NRCan’s model output from residential, commercial and institutional, industrial, transportation and agriculture models. The difference between RESD data and NRCan’s model results is due to re-allocation of fuels between sectors.

  1. The electricity production is the sum of primary electricity and secondary electricity. The primary electricity is generated by hydro, nuclear wind, tidal and solar. The secondary electricity is generated from thermal generation such as burning oil, liquid natural gas, coal and other substances to rotate generators.

  2. The input energy for electricity and steam generation is the sum of:

    1. hydro, nuclear, coal, natural gas, refined petroleum products (petroleum coke, heavy fuel oil, diesel fuel oil, light fuel oil, motor gasoline), wind, biomass, solar, tidal, geothermal, wood and other fuel types for electricity generation plus input energy used for steam generation.
    2. The input values for wind, nuclear, hydro, solar, and geothermal fuel types indicate the generated electricity (PJ) by these energy sources.
        3. Data sources:
      • RESD table, Electricity generation table in the Energy Use Data Handbook by NRCan.
      • 25-10-0020-01: Electric power, annual generation by class of producer Canada, Province or territory, annual

  3. Electricity and steam production and available electricity and steam

    Steam production and availability are added to the electricity flow line.

  4. Total electricity and steam consumption is the sum of all sectors.

Back to Top
Download Sankey PDF (64 KB)