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Understanding the basics of wind power development in Ontario
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Wind is the fastest-growing energy source in the world, increasing tenfold in installed capacity worldwide in the last ten years. Since 2001, wind power in Canada has grown at a rate of 44%. In the coming year alone, wind power in Canada is projected to grow at a rate of 23%.

Wind power generation is expanding so rapidly for several key reasons:

• Wind energy is a clean, safe, and inexhaustible power source. Wind resources are abundant and renewable, and there are many sites across the country and around the world that are ideal locations for wind parks.
• Wind Power is 100% pollution free and does not generate hazardous waste. By generating power from the wind, we can reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and reduce the smog, acid rain, and air pollution associated with non-renewable power sources such as coal, oil and gas.
• The environmental benefits of wind power make it an attractive option as governments, organizations and citizens move to reduce our ‘ecological footprint’ and hit emission reduction targets. In Canada, it is estimated that every 1,000 MW of installed wind energy capacity will reduce annual emissions of carbon dioxide by a minimum of 1.2 million tones.
• Wind power benefits local constituents by bringing new skills, jobs and economic development to rural and First Nations communities, supporting an estimated 1,200 full time jobs in the Canadian wind industry in 2006. Wind turbines are quiet and co-exist in agricultural settings with minimal environmental impact, removing less than one acre of land use for fifty acres of wind resource captured.
• The growth of the wind power sector in Canada has impacted the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the tune of $736 million in 2006, and total impact of the wind energy related expenditures on economic output is approximately $1.38 billion for the entire sector.
• Technological improvements have reduced the cost of wind power components by more than 80% since the first commercial wind turbines were installed in California in the 1980s. Many of those original modern wind turbines still work today, and can be seen in Palm Springs and Tehachapi in Southern California, and in the Altamont Pass outside San Francisco.
• In areas with an excellent wind resource, it can sometimes be more affordable to get new power by building a wind farm than by building a coal, natural gas, or other type of power plant.

For more information about the benefits of wind power, visit the Canadian Wind Energy Association website (www.canwea.ca).