Canada’s Fossil Provinces to Lead Renewable Growth
Canada’s prairie provinces – two of which are major sources of fossil fuels – will lead the country’s growth in renewable energy capacity over the next three years, according to a new report March 23 from the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).
The online report, Canada's Renewable Power, notes that decreased reliance on coal for power generation and “substantial” increases in solar and wind generating capacity will increase the amount of renewable energy added to the power grids in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
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And Manitoba – a minor source of crude oil – will strengthen its position as a prominent producer of hydroelectricity in Canada.
“When people think about the prairies, many of them think about fossil fuels,” CER chief economist Darren Christie says. “Interestingly, our projections show they are actually now leading the way in renewable energy growth, while national levels will slow in the next three years.”
In Alberta, the share of renewables in the energy mix will increase to 26% in 2023 from 16% in 2017, while in Saskatchewan, renewables will increase to 33% in 2023 from 25% in 2018.
The growth of renewables will be slowest in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. Between 2010 and 2017, renewable capacity there grew 6.8%/yr. Between 2018 and 2023, however, annual renewable growth will average only 0.4%, as capacity grows by 466 MW.
Alberta was an early adopter of wind energy in Canada and was home to the country’s first commercial wind farm at Cowley Ridge, which TransAlta commissioned in 1993 and retired in 2016. Between 2010 and 2018, the CER report says, wind generating capacity in Alberta more than doubled, to nearly 1,500 MW from 723 MW, and is projected to double again by 2023, to 2,826 MW.
In Saskatchewan, hydro is the main renewable energy source, although the province also has abundant wind capacity and generated 386 GWh from wind power in 2018. Total generation from renewables in 2018 was just under 4,000 GWh, or 16.8% of total generation, the report says.