Canada’s two smallest provinces are emerging as renewable and wind energy powerhouses, DeSmog Canada reports, producing about 25% of their combined electricity from clean sources and more than 10% from wind.
While Ontario is the country’s wind power leader by volume, turbines only supply 4% of the province’s domestic demand.
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“Some electricity utility companies in Canada will tell you all you’ll ever get from wind is 10% of your electrical needs,” said Prince Edward Island engineer and wind energy consultant Carl Brothers. “In PEI, we are closing in on 30%.”
The two provinces produced almost all their electricity from coal and oil as recently as 2000, DeSmog writes. “We took a look around at the domestic resources available to us and renewable energy, predominantly wind, just made sense,” said energy campaigner Catherine Abreu of Halifax’s Ecology Action Centre.
From that experience, “we have a lot of insight to share on what kind of investments and changes need to be made to existing infrastructure that will be true [for jurisdictions] across Canada as we move towards a clean energy economy.” (h/t to Catherine Abreu for pointing us to this story)
