Green power growing at different rates

Wind, solar and geothermal are among the key new clean electricity technologies in use around the world. But they have developed at vastly different paces in Canada.

Wind:

At the end of 2010 there is an installed wind capacity of 4,055 megawatts in Canada, with about one-third of that in Ontario. ThatÂ’s up from 3,320 MW at the start of the year, a jump of about 22 per cent.

While wind power still represents just a small fraction of CanadaÂ’s overall electricity production, it is now a significant industry with equipment makers and developers popping up across the country, and especially in Ontario where incentives support a domestic industry.

Solar:

OntarioÂ’s Green Energy Act, which provides for very high prices for solar-generated power as long as some of the hardware is manufactured in the province, has kick-started the industry.

But it is still very much in its infancy. Despite a handful of large solar farms coming on-stream in the province in 2010, at the end of the year they produced only about 245 megawatts of power. Still, that is more than double the 95 MW that was in production from solar panels at the start of the year.

Geothermal:

While Canada is a centre for financing for international geothermal firms – with several listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange – there are no active geothermal projects in Canada. The only one being considered as a possible future prospect is Ram Power Corp.’s South Meager project in British Columbia.

Canada has lots of potential geothermal resources, particularly in the West, but companies in the sector say this country is unfriendly when it comes to regulations and incentives.

The United States, by contrast, offers generous exploration grants, low-cost loans, and tax breaks, which have catalyzed an active geothermal industry.

Related News

Germany shuts down its last three nuclear power plants

BERLIN - Germany is no longer producing any electricity from nuclear power plants.

Closures of the Emsland, Isar II, and Neckarwestheim II nuclear plants in Germany were expected. The country announced plans to phase out nuclear power in 2011. However, in the fall of 2022, with the Ukraine war constraining access to energy, especially in Europe, Germany decided to keep these existing nuclear reactors operating for an additional few months to bolster supplies.

“This was a highly anticipated action. The German government extended the lifetimes of these plants for a few months but never planned beyond that,” David Victor, a professor of…

READ MORE
turkey solar panel

Covid-19 puts brake on Turkey’s solar sector

READ MORE

chinese nuclear plant

International Atomic Energy Agency agency commends China's nuclear security

READ MORE

cal iso map room

Cal ISO Warns Rolling Blackouts Possible, Calls For Conservation As Power Grid Strains

READ MORE

Site C Dam

OPINION | Bridging the electricity gap between Alberta and B.C. makes perfect climate sense

READ MORE