Federal Environment Minister at wind energy conference says by 2025, 100 per cent of electricity for federal buildings to be renewable

Wind energy is already central to many greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies across Canada and is poised to play an even bigger role as provinces seek cost-effective strategies to meet long-term climate change goals and the federal government prioritizes the building of a clean growth economy, industry members heard during the second day of the Canadian Wind Energy Association’s (CanWEA) 32nd Annual Conference and Exhibition at the BMO Centre.

The Honourable Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of environment and climate change, delivered a keynote luncheon address focussing on her government’s efforts to tackle climate change and the critical role clean energy technologies like wind energy must play.

Complementing the Minister’s address, Wednesday’s program delved deep into the technical, policy and market drivers that are shaping Canada’s evolving energy industry. The combination of low cost and zero emissions makes wind energy a leading source of permanent, large-scale and affordable greenhouse gas reductions. That is why wind energy is poised to play an increasingly important role as policymakers look for ways to make the deep carbon cuts needed to meet Canada’s international climate obligations. Wind energy will be an important player in cleaning electricity grids in Alberta and Saskatchewan and across Canada clean electricity grids will be needed for reducing fossil fuel use in other sectors through electrification and in the United States through clean energy exports.

In addition to high-level policy discussions and market analysis, the day’s conference sessions also gave delegates a chance to gain insight into the science of assessing wind as a resource, data-driven strategies to improve project performance, models of community engagement and the evolution of storage technologies.

The event’s 1,600 participants took to the tradeshow floor to learn more about the technological advancements and operational innovations that continue to reduce the cost of wind energy, after already driving it down more than 60 per cent in the past six years alone, according to data from the Unites States (Lazard 2015.)

Recently, CanWEA also unveiled the winners of its annual Power of Wind contest for post-secondary students.

Source:canwea