| This is one of three overview maps showing all
generating stations. This map shows the stations by the nature of
the plant operator.
Operators are classified using the Statistics Canada database of
generating stations. It classifies the companies using the North
American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). Details about
this system are given in the Technical
Note. For the maps showing operators, the 204 operating companies
are classed into one of four categories: utilities, forest-based
industries, mining and energy industries, and other industries.
Most of the 815 plants are operated by utilities. Utility-operated
plants dominate the map not only because of their number but also
because they are the most widely disseminated - plants for the other
operator classes tend to be concentrated in certain parts of Canada,
whereas almost all plants in the North, for example, are operated
by utilities.
Power generated by the non-utility plants is normally used by the
operator for their own facilities or operations. Companies in the
natural resource processing industries are the most prominent of
these firms, and separate maps show the forest and the mineral related
companies. The remaining companies are "other industries".
This term covers a variety of industries and services; their only
commonality is that their generating plants are almost always small.
Each of these groups is shown on a separate map. The number of
plants for each operator group is:
- Utilities - 630
- Forest-based industries - 78
- Mining and energy - 53
- Other industries - 54
Technical Note: Industrial Classifications
General Details on Industrial Classifications
In the past, Statistics Canada has used the Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC)
to classify industries. However, in the period 1997-2000, Statistics
Canada will be phasing out SIC
in favour of a newer industrial classification more specifically
focussed on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS).
Detailed manuals for both systems are available on the Statistics
Canada Web site. However, a brief summary is given below.
The 1980 edition of SIC
is the fourth, and latest, version of a system first issued in 1948.
Simply stated, the SIC
classifies establishments (such as factories) on the basis of their
output, and establishments are then classified into a hierarchy
which includes all providers of goods and services produced in an
economy.
NAICS
is different from SIC
in focussing on the production process (rather than purely on output)
as its basis for allocating establishments or firms to its system
of classes. At its first level of classification, NAICS
divides the economy into twenty Sectors, of which five are largely
goods-producing, and fifteen are entirely service-producing industries.
There are four levels in the NAICS
hierarchy:
- The highest level is the Sector (such as Manufacturing). These
have two-digit codes.
- The second level is the Sub-sector. These have three-digit codes.
- The third level is the Industry Group; its codes have five digits.
- The lowest level is the Industry, which has a six-digit code.
Industrial Classifications and Operators of Electrical Generating
Stations
One major difference between NAICS
and SIC
is the breakdown each gives to its utility group (it is Sector 22
in NAICS,
and Major Group 49 in SIC).
SIC
has only a single Industry class for electrical generation, Class
4911 (Electric Power Systems Industry), whereas NAICS
breaks the utility industry into three main Industry classes for
electrical generation (hydro, thermal, or nuclear), and a further
class for other types of generation, such as wind power.
However, these are problems in using these extra NAICS
classes for the classification of utilities. The reason is that
NAICS
uses the smallest level of industrial unit for which a revenue stream
is allocated as the entity for classification. As electrical plants
do not normally have a revenue assigned on a plant basis, this means
the nature of business of the operator, itself, is used as the basis
for classes. In practice, this means classifying utilities based
on which of hydro, thermal or nuclear is the largest single part
of their capacity. This code is then applied to all plants run by
the utility regardless of a particular plant's actual nature.
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