Total Installed capacity
Year	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
MW	198	236	322	444	684	1,460	1,846	2,372	3319

Canada ranks 11th in installed capacity in the world, but this stands in sharp contrast to the immense possibilities the Canadian geography and wind resource provide for wind energy development, and is at odds with growing electricity demands and global climate concerns.

CanWEA’s WindVision 2025 strives to bring Canada more in step with the global development of wind energy by setting a goal of producing 20% or more of the country’s electricity from wind energy by 2025.

The year 2009 marked the best year to date for Canada’s national wind energy market with 950 MW of new installed capacity bringing the total to 3,319 MW. For the first time, every province now has an operating wind farm, collectively generating enough electricity to power more than one million Canadian homes – or about 1.1% of Canada’s total electricity production. This amounts to a ten-fold increase in capacity in the last six years. Wind energy projects built in 2009 represented a minimum of C$2 billion in new investment.

There is every reason to believe that 2010 will also be a record-breaking year given that new procurement processes are underway to launch signing of new power purchase agreements for wind energy projects in at least six provinces.

The national policy framework for wind energy in Canada

Canada’s ecoENERGY for Renewable Power Program was established in 2007 to support the deployment of approximately 4,000 MW of new low-impact, renewable electricity projects by 31 March 2011. The mechanism offers payment of C$0.01/kWh (before tax) for the first 10 years of a project’s life. However, the program became a victim of its own success, with applications exceeding the C$1.48 billion budget. As a result, the set target was met well ahead of schedule. In March 2010, the federal government took a decision not to extend and expand the programme, so the future of the programme remains uncertain.

Developments in 2009 at provincial and national level

 

TOTAL INSTALLED CAPACITY BY PROVINCE
Province	MW installed
Yukon	0.81
British Columbia	102
Alberta	590
Saskatchewan	171.2
Manitoba	104
Ontario	1,168
Quebec	659
New Brunswick	195
Nova Scotia	110
Prince Edward Islands	164
Newfoundland and Labrador	54.4

FEED-IN TARIFF IN ONTARIO, CANADA’S LEADING WIND ENERGY PROVINCE

 

Other leading wind energy provinces include Quebec (659 MW), Alberta (590 MW), followed at some distance by New Brunswick (195 MW), Saskatchewan (171 MW) and Prince Edward Island (164 MW), the latter of which has a target of 500 MW of wind by 2013. British Columbia was the last Canadian province to install wind energy, with a 102 MW project that came online in 2009.

 

The outlook for wind energy development in Canada remains very positive, with many provinces having signed contracts for expanding their wind energy capacity in 2010 and beyond. This includes two projects totaling 114 MW in New Brunswick, close to 200 MW in Nova Scotia, 169 MW in British Columbia. In Quebec, the government-owned utility Hydro-Quebec, has signed power purchase agreements for another 2,672 MW to be installed between now and 2015.

The year 2010 will also lay the foundation for future growth, with the results of competitive tenders announced in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, and with the first feed-in tariff contracts signed in Ontario.

Improved policy frameworks at provincial level will also help the development of wind power in Canada. Nova Scotia, for example, is considering new policy approaches with respect to its renewable portfolio standard. The new standard would require that 25% of the province’s electricity needs to be met with renewable sources by 2015.

Challenges for wind power development in Canada

ECOENERGY FOR RENEWABLE POWER PROGRAM

The biggest challenge for the Canadian wind energy industry going into 2010 is the uncertain future of federal incentives to support renewable energy development from the ecoEnergy programme.

CanWEA and other renewable energy organizations are calling on the government to either expand and extend the program in its 2010 budget or to put in place an alternative mechanism, such as a capital grant program, to ensure federal support for the wind industry continues. Failure to capitalize on this windfall would result in significant flow of capital from Canada to the US as investors move to take advantage of the more profitable wind energy investment opportunities that exist there as a result of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package.

INDUSTRY RESPONSE TO SOUND AND HEALTH

During 2009, wind development in Canada was continuously challenged by concerns over noise and the health effects of wind farms on local residents. In December 2009, an international panel of experts released a report based on a review of a large body of scientific literature on sound and health effects, and specifically with regard to sound produced by wind turbines. After extensive review, analysis and discussion, the panel has concluded that sounds or vibrations emitted from wind turbines have no adverse effect on human health.

Outlook for 2010 and beyondOntario leads Canada’s wind energy development with 1,168 MW of installed wind capacity, with another 647 MW of additional wind energy projects currently under contract. The province’s Green Energy Act, which represents Canada’s most comprehensive policy framework to support wind energy deployment, was announced in 2009. This act introduced a feed-in-tariff offering C$0.13/kWh for onshore wind farms, with an extra cent added on for small-scale community projects and an additional C$0.015/kWh for First Nations projects, i.e. wind projects involving the participation of Aboriginal communities. For offshore projects, the tariff will be C$0.19/kWh. It is expected that the first effects of this new mechanism will be felt in 2010, when the first 20-year contracts will be signed. The Ontario Power Authority’s Integrated Power System Plan has called for 4,600 MW of wind energy by 2020. Three new wind energy projects came on line in the province in 2009, including Enbridge’s 181.5 MW Ontario Wind Power Project, Sky Generation’s 6.6 MW Proof Line project and TransAlta’s 197.8 MW Wolfe Island Wind project.