World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

November 19, 2006 – Vol. 11 No. 35

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Windy mountain passes. Endless wind swept plains. Blustery ocean coastlines. Canada has some of the best, if not THE best wind resources on the planet.

But because of its small population and other abundant energy resources, the county has been slow to develop wind power.

Now it’s growing. Since the end of 2005 wind capacity in the country has nearly doubled. So far a record 657 megawatts of new capacity has been added in 2006 to bring the nation’s total to 1,341 megawatts, enough to power 406,000 Canadian homes. The last record year was 2005 when 240 megawatts were installed.

According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) Canada has caught the wind bug. Combined, the provincial governments are now targeting 10,000 megawatts of new capacity to be in place by 2015 - less than a decade away.

This will happen if Ottawa doesn’t withdraw its support for wind energy. Like the US, financial help from the nation’s capitol helps feed the growth of wind energy in the country.

In 2005 the Canadian government expanded its Wind Power Production Incentive Program so that it could support the development of 4,000 megawatts of wind energy. If not expanded the wind energy could stall when it reaches that milestone. (In the US the production tax credit (PTC) has been repeatedly renewed to keep the industry growing.)

The largest wind farm in the nation is now online as well. The Prince Wind Energy Project, located northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, has an installed capacity of 189 megawatts from 126, 1.5 megawatt turbines. The project also makes Ontario the leader in Canadian wind energy.