Effective public consultation is key to wind industry

The message was clear to delegates at the Canadian Wind Energy Association’s (CanWEA) annual conference: consultation is critically important to the development of Canada’s wind industry, and those who do it incorrectly are bound to have considerable problems.

Indeed, a panel on “Building Community Support” featured a municipal councillor from rural Ontario who began her presentation by saying “It’s nothing personal, but I don’t like your industry.”

Councillor Monica Alyea of Prince Edward County went on to criticize the wind industry for what she believed was a series of serious faults. These included taking rural communities for granted and creating unwelcome tension between neighbours over siting turbines.

Councillor Alyea – who made a point of saying she is not running in the next municipal election – was particularly critical of how proponents often bring a series of dated, hard-copy, template brochures to town halls instead of taking the time to use technology to actually show what wind farms look and sound like. “Show us a YouTube video or two of an actual turbine turning in an actual field,” she said, “and not a bunch of glossy brochures. It would be worth your while.”

The counterpoint to Councillor Alyea came from a counterpart, Mayor Lynn Acre of Bayham, Ontario. Speaking to a full plenary session, Mayor Acre spoke of the valuable roles the wind industry plays in her region – including giving local tourism a boost – and how wind proponents have gone out of their way to involve community members in a series of public consultations.

Other conference speakers discussed the challenges of good consultation and how all parties have to commit themselves to be involved and transparent. The overall consensus was a take-off on the old political adage on voting. That is, consult early and often.

The next CanWEA conference will be held in Montreal from October 31 to November 3, 2010.

Winds of opportunity – and challenge – blow around the world

The imperatives and challenges of growth in difficult economic conditions around the world was a hot topic of conversation at the recent Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) conference in Toronto. Panelists from the United States, Europe and Canada spoke about global wind industry trends in their jurisdictions to a packed audience on the first full day of the conference.

Denise Bode, head of American Wind Energy Association drew on the strong leadership of President Obama in talking about the advance of wind energy in the States. However, Bode also said that the ability of the Department of Energy to implement federal energy policy through federal stimulus money across the country is being hampered by state-level fragmentation. The clear implication was that Canada’s challenges in establishing national energy policies is echoed south of the border.  So “hang in there”, in other words.

Similarly, Christian Kjaer, head of the European Wind Energy Association spoke of challenges stemming from trying to drive supra-national energy policy in a region of 27 member states, all of whom have policy levers over and considerable interests in the development of energy in the European Union.

Germany, for example, is a global leader in solar power and Denmark a global wind leader. Both countries have policies contributing to that leadership. At the same time, other EU-based countries lag in renewable energy, comparatively speaking, but are leaders in – or at least more reliable on – fossil fuels. Among other things, this contributes to a European hot house of technological innovation in energy amidst increased citizen expectations. Not surprisingly, Europeans look eagerly at Canada in terms of wind given the ample natural resources here and the lack of domestic industry (at least for turbines and blades).

The next CanWEA conference will be held in Montreal from October 31 to November 3, 2010.

What is all this wind about wind?

Pick up any newspaper or tune into any newscast, and you no doubt will have witnessed the groundswell of support, both public and official, for “green” energy. In practice, “green” means clean, renewable, and above-all, low-or-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

In Canada, one energy industry in particular has emerged as the star: wind energy.

Why wind power?

Well, for starters, Canada is windy. That sounds trite, but consider a province like Alberta. Hydroelectric power simply isn’t a possibility, even on a medium scale. Tidal power? Are you kidding? The province is blessed with an abundance of wind. It’s no coincidence that Alberta is Canada’s per-capita leader in wind power generation, and third overall behind Ontario and Quebec. 

That’s not to say Alberta is particularly “windier” than any other province. Overall, the quality of Canada’s wind resource is as good as or better than any in the world. With a huge landmass and lengthy coastlines, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) says the country has more top-quality wind power sites than it could ever use. 

So what is all this wind about wind?

In short, its advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Besides an abundance of suitable sites for wind farms, wind is non-polluting, requires no water for cooling or cleansing, has been proven around the world, produces reasonably-priced electricity, and the initial construction costs are low enough for medium-sized municipalities to bear.  

There are, as with any technology, disadvantages. The most common complaint is about the noise from spinning turbines, or otherwise-natural vistas being “ruined” by the tall towers. Also, reliability: when the wind isn’t blowing, no power is being generated. This means either (a) enough power must be generated while the wind is blowing to save for down-time, or (b) keeping traditional power around, at least as a backup. In the Centre for Energy’s most recent edition of Energy in Canada, this argument is addressed, saying, “While no form of energy can be relied upon 100 per cent of the time, variations in the output of wind energy are minimal over and above the normal fluctuation in electricity supply and demand. Therefore, at penetrations of up to 10 per cent in the electricity grid, wind energy requires very little additional back-up resources beyond those already in place within the electricity system.” 

As well, the same article addresses the challenge of wind’s reliability, mentioning that although wind doesn’t blow all the time, it is important to remember that the wind doesn’t stop blowing everywhere at the same time – that large numbers of wind turbines spread over a wide geographic area do, in fact, produce a consistent amount of power. Some food for thought. 

Building a Green Energy Economy

The Canadian federal government is certainly convinced. Ottawa has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, setting aside $702-million aside for development of a more sustainable environment through 2011, including $400-million to transform to a “Green Energy Economy.” 

Wind energy is a lynchpin of this plan. CanWEA believes wind energy can satisfy 20 per cent of the nation’s electricity demand by 2025 – a mere 16 years away. Among other economic and ancillary benefits, it’s estimated this would reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 17 megatonnes.  

To achieve this plan, three things need to happen. First, Canada and its regions need smart investment and to play to their natural strengths and advantages. Second, the wind industry needs to continue working on mitigating wind energy’s weaknesses. Third – and let’s not mince words here – a massive commitment and capital investment is required. 

Smart Investment

First, smart investment. Think of it as “chipping away.” For example, way back in 2001, Calgary Transit formed a partnership with Vision Quest Wind Electric – “Ride the Wind”. From that point forward, the city’s growing Light Rail Transit (LRT, or “C-Train”) system would be run entirely on wind power.  

Previously, the electricity used for C-Train traction power came from coal or natural gas facilities. At last estimate, wind power reduced Calgary Transit’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 46,000 tonnes – and as the city’s LRT system grows, so will the savings.  

What’s the significance? That transforming to clean energy doesn’t have to come in one painful, chaotic spasm of upheaval, but through careful, strategic investment by interested companies and governments. Indeed, there are dozens of wind projects from coast to coast to coast, from small to large.

Smart investment can also be driven by individuals, not just Microsoft-sized corporations and national governments. Consumers in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia can choose “100 per cent green electricity” by choosing Bullfrog Power as their provider.  

Bullfrog works something like an independent phone company. Bullfrog uses the same grid, but injects as much electricity into grid as its customers use. This is done via Bullfrog’s wind and hydro facilities, all certified by Environment Canada as low-impact. What difference does that make? Bullfrog’s growth has necessitated the construction of five new wind farms – four in Ontario, one in Alberta – to meet rising demand.  

Address the challenges

Secondly, the wind industry needs to mitigate its inherent drawbacks. One encouraging development is “urban turbines” for use in small settings – even backyards. Based on ancient Egyptian windmills, the turbines don’t look like massive propellers, but hand-powered lawn mowers placed vertically.  

With more surface area devoted to harnessing the wind, they spin much more slowly (up to twice the speed of the wind), making the blades visible to bats and birds, and thus much safer. The urban turbines are also quieter, and relatively cheap – a small model can supply around two-thirds of a typical household’s energy needs; a medium-sized version can power an entire house.  

Capital investment on wind infrastructure

The third thing is simultaneously the most challenging and most encouraging: a massive capital investment. There are wind power projects literally across the country. In Quebec, there are 23 separate wind power projects either under construction or planned for the very near future. There are even two turbines just outside Whitehorse, in the frigid Yukon Territory, where it was said the cold would make wind power impractical.  

In Ontario, Canada’s largest province, wind power is an integral part of the grid, the economy, and plans for the future. There are 24 wind farms operating, with eight projects planned or under construction. The combined total capacities of the existing and under construction wind farms in Ontario is 1436.9 MW, which will increase; the Ontario Power Authority’s Integrated Power System Plan calls for 4,600 megawatts of wind energy by 2020.

Canada’s smallest province is on board as well. PEI has seven wind farms, with a total capacity of 75.36 MW. Construction is underway on a second phase of the West Cape Wind Farm, which will more than double the province’s wind power capacity.  

Achieving CanWEA’s WindVision 2025 (1MB PDF) will have other benefits, too. All that infrastructure doesn’t just appear and disappear. CanWEA says it will create at least 52,000 high-quality, full-time jobs in Canada, including and particularly in rural communities. It will also produce $165 million in new annual revenues for municipalities.  

Wind power isn’t just Canada’s future in the far-off, Buck Rogers sense. It’s very much part of the present and immediate prospects for the economy, and in reducing the entire country’s ecological impact.