Canada Home to $37 Billion Worth of Wind-Generation Projects

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Although hydropower is Canada's largest source of power generation, the country is building out its wind-energy generation capacity. Industrial Info is tracking US$37 billion worth of active and planned wind-generation projects in Canada, including two major windfarms under construction that recently began sending power to the Alberta electrical grid.

The most recent data from Statistics Canada, the Canada government's statistics arm, show wind accounted for only about 5% of the country's total electricity in August. But renewable energy developers are hard at work building windfarms to boost the renewable resource's share.

Phase I of Acciona SA's (Alcobendas, Spain) Forty Mile wind project near Seven Persons, not far from Medicine Hat in the southeast of Alberta, now is sending power to the grid. The windfarm is designed to provide a total generating capacity of 280 megawatts (MW) at full operation, which is expected in 2025, utilizing 49 Nordex turbines. Engineering, procurement and construction firm Renewable Energy Systems Canada (Montreal, Quebec) is erecting the turbines, nine of which now are powered up. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the project report.

Most of the offtake is designated to oil sands developer Cenovus Energy Incorporated (NYSE:CVE) (Calgary, Alberta), which has a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) in place.

Also in its late stage of construction and already sending power to the Alberta grid is what is set to be the largest onshore windfarm in Canada, with a designed capacity of roughly 500 MW: more than one-third of the 83 Siemens Gamesa (Zamudio, Spain) turbines at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners' (Copenhagen, Denmark) Buffalo Plains Windfarm in Alberta began delivering power in August. Full commercial operations are expected by the end of the year. Click here to read the detailed project report.

Industrial Info also is tracking wind projects in their early stages of development, such as Invenergy LLC's (Chicago, Illinois) proposed 350-MW Pohenegamook-Picard-Saint-Antonin Wind Centre near Riviere-Du-Loup, Quebec. Invenergy is considering Vestas (Copenhagen, Denmark) to supply the turbines. Construction is tentatively planned to begin in 2026, with completion in 2028--when Hydro-Quebec (Montreal, Quebec) would begin off-taking power under a 30-year PPA. Subscribers can read a detailed project report.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of active and planned wind-generation projects in Canada.

Click here for a list of all project reports cited in this article, and click here for related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).