The cost of developing clean wind energy has dropped significantly in the past three years while technology improvements have increased productivity, an analysis by renewable energy consultancy GL Garrad Hassan has found. PES looks in more detail at the findings, which suggests that wind energy points to a cost-competitive, sustainable choice for the energy needs of British Columbia.
In British Columbia, wind energy is a developing industry, with commercial wind farms currently operating, under construction and in development in the province. Electricity Purchase Agreements have been signed with BC Hydro for several future wind farms, and anticipated increases in electricity demand are expected to accelerate the growth of British Columbia’s wind energy industry.
The report commissioned by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) updates older cost and productivity estimates of 121 potential onshore wind development sites across British Columbia that are used by BC Hydro for electricity system analysis and CanWEA hopes this new data can make a useful contribution to the work underway to develop a new Integrated Resource Plan for the province. The report found that wind turbine prices have dropped by 20 per cent since 2009 while at the same time the productivity of turbines has increased by as much as 27 per cent.
“BC Hydro is facing an incredible challenge over the next decade as new LNG plants and mining activity drive electricity demand up by a third – or 16,500 GWh,” said Nicholas Heap, BC Regional Director for CanWEA. “Fortunately, this new analysis clearly shows that with wind energy we have an abundant cost-effective, zero-emission option to supply this new demand. British Columbians choose wind energy and other renewables as their top choice for new power in repeated polling, so this is a win-win for the province.”
The GL Garrad Hassan report, The 2012 Assessment of Wind Energy Costs in British Columbia, found that there are 4,700 gigawatt hours per year (GWh/yr) of electricity available in British Columbia with a lifetime cost of energy (LCOE) under $87/megawatt hour and 18,000 GWh/yr under $95/megawatt hour, excluding only utility contract terms and the cost of the substations required to connect these resources to the existing grid. According to BC Hydro’s newly released Integrated Resource Plan, Site C will generate 5,100 GWh/yr for approximately the same unit energy cost.
