OTTAWA, March 9 (UPI) -- A new study by Emerging Energy Research expects Canada's wind power capacity to grow to 14,100 megawatts by 2015.
Canada's capacity already more than doubling in 2006 to 1,468 MW, according to the Massachusetts-based advisory and consulting firm.
"In the past two years the Canadian wind power market has evolved from relative obscurity -- an occasional diversion for wind turbine vendors struggling for market share in the US -- to become one of the world's largest and fastest growing wind power markets," said Joshua Magee, EER senior analyst.
Large investments in wind power are expected between 2007 and 2015 and Canada is expected to rank among the world's five or six largest wind power markets. Canada added 784 megawatts in 2006 and will contribute at least a quarter of North America's yearly growth through 2015.
"Provincial utility demand for wind power in Canada since 2004 has changed the game," said Magee. "Long-term goals for greater use of renewable energy, across nearly all of Canada's provinces, has provided the necessary transparency for investment, with strong market fundamentals based on Canada's growing concern about its greenhouse gas emissions and energy security policy."
While wind power accounted for only 0.7 percent of Canada's energy generation mix by the end of 2006, the renewable fuel source's contribution to Canadian electricity supply is expected to grow significantly over the next 10 years, to an average of 5.5 percent across all provinces by 2015.
