◊ Part of the ‘wind energy’ series of articles ◊
Wind energy has a very long history dating back thousands of years. The energy was used primarily for agriculture by moving water or processing grain through mechanical adaptation. The machines used were called Windmills. In Holland windmills were used for land reclamation in the 17th century.
In the early 1900s wind was used to generate electricity in rural areas of North America. These new generators were referred to as ‘Wind Turbines’ to distinguish them from their mechanical counterpart – the windmill. Wind turbines were typically between one and three kW in capacity and used for lighting, battery charging and operation of small electric devices. The expansion of the electricity distribution grid to rural areas lead to the decline in wind turbines as less-expensive and reliable sources became available.
The oil crisis in the 1970’s led to a resurgence of interest in wind generation. Both the Canadian and US governments sponsored renewable energy programs. Multiple wind turbines were installed in groups referred to as ‘Wind Farms’ to increase energy output to the grid.
In 1975 Hydro Quebec began a wind power program beginning with a 40kW ‘Darrieus’ vertical-axis turbine referred to as an ‘egg beater’ design. Installation of the egg beaters were funded by Hydro Quebec and the National Research Council of Canada at Magdalen Islands (1977) and the Gaspe Peninsula (1984).
The horizontal-axis wind turbine gradually took over the landscape and have become the predominant type of generator that most of us have seen in operation.
In 1994 the Cowley Ridge Wind Farm was built near Pincher Creek in Alberta. It was the first commercial wind farm in Canada with 57 turbines generating 60,000 MWh of energy annually. It operated for 23 years. Over the last several decades wind has seen a significant global expansion driven by sustainability, grid architectural evolution and environmental considerations.
Wind has become a part of the energy mix in most countries as a part of the shift to renewable, environmentally friendly and Distributed Energy Resources (DER). In 2017 NRC reported the total worldwide wind generation installed capacity was 539,581 MW. Canada ranked 9th in total capacity share.
| Rank | Country | Percentage of Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 35% |
| 2 | United States | 17% |
| 3 | Germany | 10% |
| 4 | India | 6% |
| 5 | Spain | 4% |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 3% |
| 7 | France | 2% |
| 9 | Canada | 2% |
In the United States, Texas leads the way in total wind generation capacity with 22,637 MW and Iowa leads by percentage capacity at 37%. In Canada numbers for 2018 showed that Ontario has the largest installed capacity at 5,250 MW with Quebec being second largest and Alberta a distant third. It’s now commonplace for European countries such as Denmark to have more than 90% of its daily energy supplied by wind. On January 13, 2019 Denmark generated 92 GWh from wind which was 99% of their need.
21st century wind energy development in Ontario
In 2001 OPG installed one of the largest wind turbines in North America in Pickering on the nuclear generator site. It is mostly symbolic as that location is not particularly well suited for wind energy.
According to OPG Corporate Relations and Communications, the turbine is a state-of-the art Vestas 1.8 MW model which can typically produce enough electricity to supply the annual electricity needs of about 330 average homes. At full power, it can supply about 1,800 homes at any given time. The wind speed at which this turbine begins to generate electricity is about 16.9 kmh. When in operation, the blades turn at a constant speed of 15.7 revolutions per minute. If the wind speed is more than 90kmh, on-board computers stop the turbine to avoid damage to it.
On February 28, 2019 OPG announced that the turbine has reached its end of life and will be dismantled in April, 2019. The gearbox mechanism failed and there was no business case to replace it. The expected service life of the turbine was 20 years.
In 2002 a non-profit wind-power cooperative called WindShare erected a 600kW wind turbine at Exhibition Place in Toronto. It has had numerous reliability issues with the most recent being flood damage in March of 2017 which resulted in an extended outage. While Windshare still has a contract with the IESO to deliver power to the grid until 2027 under the RESOP program, it is not operational at this time. It is being repaired with an anticipated return to service at the end of January, 2019.
Beginning in 2004 the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) began contracting investor-owned Renewable Energy Sources which included wind energy. The contract programs offered included:
| Program Name | Timeline | Wind Capacity MW | Wind Energy Price cents/kWh |
| Renewable Energy Supply – RES (phases 1 to 3) | Phase I (2004) Phase II (2005) Phase III (2007) | 300; 780; 426 | 9.5 |
| Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program – RESOP | 2006 | 285 | 11 |
| Feed-in Tariff (FIT) | 2009 | 2,212 | 13.5 |
| Green Energy Investment Agreement – GEIA | 2011 | 1,068 | 13.8 |
| Large Renewable Procurement – LRP | 2016 | 160 | 6.45 to 10.55 |
The significance of the different programs relate to capacity, price and contract terms. The newer programs became more competitive with complex pricing agreements and overall lower rates. There is a decent description of some of these programs in Chapter 3 of the 2011 Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario.
In September of 2013 the IESO announced that it had introduced a dispatch tool for wind generation. It would apply to 1,725 MW of existing transmission connected wind resources. For the first time the IESO would be able to manage generator output based on system need. Until then, wind generation fed the grid whether the system required it or not. That resulted in excess capacity, exporting power at below cost and shutting down lower cost generating sources.
The dispatch practice does not apply to distribution connected wind generation as most of it is neither monitored by the system operator nor under their control.
In 2015 the OPA was merged with the IESO who currently manages contracts with generators.
According to the IESO there are 109 contracts for wind generation as of the end of 2018. The combined capacity of the contracts is almost 5,250 MW. This makes Ontario the largest wind-generating province in Canada. The IESO only publishes energy data for 41 of the 109 listed facilities.
In 2018 the Ontario government repealed the Green Energy Act and cancelled outstanding renewable generation projects. There will be no wind energy projects in Ontario in the foreseeable future.
Derek
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