Canada reaches milestone as wind energy now
produced in every province
Dec 02 - Canada Newswire
Canada has achieved a new milestone as wind-generated electricity is now
being produced in every province with the recent opening of Bear
Mountain Wind Park near Dawson Creek, B.C. This new wind development has
also increased Canada's total wind energy capacity to more than 3,100 MW
- a ten- fold increase in six years that will now produce enough
electricity to power nearly one million Canadian homes. All provinces
now see wind energy as an important source of new electricity generation
and current provincial targets and policy objectives would result in a
further quadrupling of installed wind energy capacity in the next six
years.
"The federal government has played a critical role in encouraging wind
energy across Canada through its ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program
which has provided support for renewable energy deployment in the
absence of any form of carbon pricing that would provide a market value
for renewable energy's environmental benefits," said Robert Hornung,
president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). "It is both
ironic and disappointing that the major federal support for deployment
of clean and climate friendly renewable energy is poised to end just as
Canada heads off to participate in global talks in Copenhagen focused on
new actions to address climate change."
The ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program was established in January
2008 to support the deployment of 4,000 MW of renewable energy by March
2011. A huge success, the program will allocate all of its funding and
meet its target before the end of 2009 - almost 1.5 years ahead of
schedule. At this time, the federal government has made no commitment to
renew or replace the program to provide continued support until a fully
functional carbon market is in place in Canada.
"Without a renewed commitment to federal support for wind energy, Canada
will be increasingly challenged to compete for wind energy investment
with the United States and investment will leave Canada for the US,
which has implemented a package of significant new actions to support
wind energy deployment," said Hornung. "The federal government must act
now to support both provincial government aspirations and to keep wind
energy investment and jobs in Canada."
Canada's wind energy capacity is now roughly divided among Ontario
(1/3), Alberta and Quebec (1/3 split roughly 50/50), and Canada's
remaining 7 provinces (1/3). An up-to-date graphic of Canada's installed
wind energy capacity can be found at: www.canwea.ca.
CanWEA's vision document, Wind Vision 2025 - Powering Canada's Future,
estimates that wind energy has the potential to be one of Canada's next
great economic opportunities while providing environmental benefits.
Achieving this goal will also create $80 billion (CDN) in new
investment, a minimum 50,000 new jobs, and provide economic development
opportunities for rural communities throughout Canada.
CanWEA is the voice of Canada's wind energy industry, actively promoting
the responsible and sustainable growth of wind energy on behalf of its
more than 450 members. A national non-profit association, CanWEA serves
as Canada's leading source of credible information about wind energy and
its social, economic and environmental benefits. To join other global
leaders in the wind energy industry, CanWEA believes Canada can and must
reach its target of producing 20 per cent or more of the country's
electricity from wind by 2025. The document Wind Vision 2025 -Powering
Canada's Future is available at www.canwea.ca.
(c) 2009 Canada Newswire. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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