Canada’s wind power sector continued to surge in 2016, with the addition of over 700 MW of new capacity from projects spread across the country.
According to a report from the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), 21 wind projects were commissioned in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia last year, representing a total investment value of around CAD $1.5 billion.
2017 is shaping up as a bumper year too, with another 700 MW of new wind capacity in the pipeline.
The nation now boasts a fleet of 285 wind farms running more than 6,200 wind turbines. The nation’s installed wind power capacity stands at 11,898 MW, enough to generate six percent of Canada’s electricity needs – or about three million homes.
“More wind energy has been built in Canada in the last 11 years than any other form of electricity generation, and for good reason,” said Robert Hornung, President of CanWEA. “Costs for wind energy have fallen dramatically over the past seven years, making wind energy one of Canada’s two most cost-competitive sources of new electricity supply.”
The industry group’s figures show wind has outstripped natural gas as the cheapest and fastest-growing source of new electricity generation in Canada since 2005. Between 2012 and 2016, Canada’s installed wind power capacity has been growing by 18 percent each year.
Of the 21 new projects commissioned over the past 12 months, sixteen are owned, wholly or in part, by aboriginal, local communities, or municipal governments.
Ontario, North America’s top region for renewable energy procurement, added the most new wind power in 2016 – 413 MW, to bring the province’s total installed capacity to 4,781 MW.
Quebec took second place in 2016, adding 249 MW from three new projects, to begin 2017 with a total capacity of 3,510 MW of wind energy on its grid.
Nova Scotia installed the most projects of all Canada’s provinces, with 10 new sites totalling 39.5 MW, thanks largely to a provincial feed-in tariff regime. Nova Scotia finished 2016 with 579 MW of wind energy capacity, placing it fourth among the provinces for total installed capacity.
“The fact that the vast majority of new wind energy projects built in Canada in 2016 had some form of local ownership demonstrates the value of wind not only as a driver of economic growth, but also as a source of local jobs and revenue in communities right across the country, said Hornburg.”
Last year also saw Canada’s first commercial wind farm, Alberta’s Cowley Ridge Wind Farm, decommissioned – 23 years after in went into service in 1993. The facility has again demonstrated wind power can certainly stand the test of time.
