A recently published report by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) has shed light on just how vast the potential for wind energy is in British Columbia, and what is required to tap into this vast resource. PES gives you some of the highlights from the report and looks at the energy future for BC…
Wind energy has grown rapidly as an energy generation technology around the world and within Canada. First installed at scale in Denmark and California barely 30 years ago, 13,600 MW of modern wind turbines were in operation worldwide by 2002; generating twice as much electricity annually as BC’s huge W.A.C. Bennett dam. Since then, wind energy has continued to grow rapidly – at the start of 2011, there was fully 197,000 MW of installed wind energy capacity around the world, supplying two per cent of the world’s total electricity demand. In 2009, more wind power was built in Europe than any other electricity generation technology, and during 2005-2009 US installations of wind power were second only to natural gas generation. This year, wind turbines globally are expected to produce as much as all of Canada’s hydroelectric and nuclear generation plants combined.
The Global Wind Energy Council notes that “Commercial wind farms now operate in close to 80 countries, and present many benefits for both developed and developing countries: increased energy security; stable power prices; economic development which both attracts investment and creates jobs; reduced dependence on imported fuels; improved air quality; and, of course, CO2 emissions reductions. Each of these factors is a driver in different measure in different locations, but in an increasing number of countries they combine to make wind power the generation technology of choice”.
