Ottawa: News about record-low costs tops the 2017 year-end review of wind energy in Canada, released January 30 by the Canadian Wind Energy Association. Findings include:
In December, a competitive electricity-supply auction in Alberta yielded the lowest-ever price paid for wind energy in Canada (weighted average of $37 / MWh) and also made wind energy the lowest-cost option for new electricity generation in the country. This came on the heels of a major U.S. study that found that wind power costs had plunged 67 percent between 2009 and 2017.
Over the last five years, Canada’s installed wind energy capacity has grown by an average of 15 per cent annually. In 2017, utilities and developers energized 10 new wind energy projects in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia. Taken together, the new projects represent more than 340 MW of new capacity and approximately $800 million in investment. Municipalities and communities have ownership stakes in half of the new projects, a reflection of a growing global trend towards greater community involvement in wind energy development.
As of the end of 2017, Canada had 12,239 MW of total installed wind capacity, producing enough electricity to supply six per cent of Canada’s electricity demand and power 3.2 million homes. In 2018 CanWEA expects over 600 MW of new wind energy capacity will come online and that those numbers will continue to grow in future years.
In the December auction in Alberta noted above, the grid operator announced that three companies will together invest $1 billion to build four new large wind farms in the province by the end of 2019, collectively providing 600 MW of capacity.