Quebec Leading the Way in Wind Power
The Canadian province of Quebec is taking steps to become a leader in the use of wind power technology. As the province already gets most of the energy from hydro dams, the addition of wind farms, whose power generation can vary with the wind, they are ideally suited to wind energy as the dams can quickly be increased or decreased to meet demand.
On May 4th, Jean Charest, the premier of Quebec, announced the approval of 15 bids that will provide slightly over 2 gigawatts of power by 2015. The total value of the bids is $5.5 billion (CDN). This represents enough energy to power 320,000 homes in the province. The new plants are the second phase of the province’s venture into wind energy, adding to the existing capacity of about 400 megawatts. Charest called the development “the largest tender for wind-powered energy ever awarded in a single block in North America.”
In addition to meeting the internal needs of the province, Quebec has indicated that they also intend to sell wind energy to Ontario and parts of New England. Quebec is already a significant exporter of power from the hydroelectric plants, gaining over $1 billion in revenues in 2005 on exports of 10.7 terawatt hours. This has given Quebec the advantage of an existing infrastructure to transmit new energy to their neighbors.
Other parts of the country are hoping that this step by Quebec is one that will spread to other provinces. John Keating, CEO of Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., said “It helps further validate the entrance of wind power into the mainstream of power generating technology.”
The 15 different bids were spread across 8 companies, and have an average price offered of 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Although this is still much more expensive than energy coming from the burning of fossil fuels, it is seen as a very competitive price for wind power.
The contracts still await the approval from the provincial energy board.
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