Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
merit recognition for being comparatively successful. However, in order to
equitably assess performance in stimulating wind power development, one
must also take into consideration the contextual factors which inluence
wind power development potential. When one does so, it becomes apparent
that when it comes to wind power, Canada is a Ferrari in a world dominated
by Fords. hree factors, in particular, bestow Canada with an astonishing
high degree of realizable wind power potential.
First, although geographically Canada is the world's second-largest nation,
it enjoys one of the lowest population density ratios in the world demand.
he strategic beneit of Canada's sheer size is that wind farms could be geo-
graphically dispersed to signiicantly attenuate the threats posed by wind
intermittency.
3
Wind conditions are impacted by disparate atmospheric
conditions as one traverses the nearly 6,000 km from Canada's east coast
to west coast. he strategic beneit of Canada's low population density is
that Canada possesses enormous tracts of undeveloped land and open farm-
land that could accommodate tens of thousands of wind turbines. It has
been estimated that harnessing the wind power potential of just 0.25% of
Canada's landmass would be suicient to provide enough electricity to fully
satisfy Canada's aggregate electricity demand.
4
he untapped potential that
exists in Canada is best put in context by observing that Canada is 28 times
larger than Germany; yet, by the end of 2012, Germany had ive times more
installed wind power capacity than Canada.
5
Second, hydropower currently dominates Canada's electricity mix. In
fact, hydropower capacity in Canada is bested only by hydropower capac-
ity in China and Brazil. Approximately 60% of all electricity generated in
Canada comes from hydropower—and hydropower, of course, is a perfect
complement to wind power because it can most expediently compensate for
power luctuations arising from wind intermittency.
6
hird, Canada's only land-connected neighbor also happens to be the
world's largest consumer of electricity. Not only is US demand for electric-
ity expected to increase by 28% between 2011 and 2040,
7
as outlined in the
previous chapter, the United States is currently confronting the challenge
of inancing refurbishments and upgrades to existing generation facilities,
transmission infrastructure, and distribution networks that will be mea-
sured in the trillions of US dollars.
8
Already Canada is the predominant
supplier of electricity to the United States, with exports of electricity via
established cross-border transmission conduits amounting to C$3.2 billion
in 2007.
9
Given the substandard state of electricity infrastructure in the
United States and increasing international pressure for facilitating a transi-
tion away from CO
2
intensive electricity generation, the likelihood that the
United States will desire heightened imports of renewable energy in order
