How is wind energy used in Canada?

As a means of pumping water and generating electricity in remote locations, wind power has a history in Canada dating back many decades, particularly on prairie farms. At the end of 2011, wind power generating capacity was 5,265 megawatts (MW), providing some 2.3% of Canada's electricity demand. The Canadian Wind Energy Association has outlined a future strategy for wind energy that would reach a capacity of 55,000 MW by 2025, meeting 20% of the country's energy needs.

Alberta built the first commercial wind farm in Canada in 1993. British Columbia was the last province to add wind power to its grid with the completion of the Bear Mountain Wind Park in November 2009. With increasing population growth, Canada has seen wind power as a way to diversify energy supplies away from traditional reliance on fossil fuel burning thermal plants and heavy reliance on hydroelectricity in some provinces. In provinces like Nova Scotia, where only 12% of electricity comes from renewable sources, the development of wind energy projects will provide a measure of electricity security that some jurisdictions are lacking. In the case of British Columbia, wind energy will help close the electricity deficit that the province is facing into the 2010s and help reduce the reliance on importing power from other jurisdictions that may not use renewable energy sources. An additional 2,004 megawatts of wind power is to come on stream in Quebec between 2011 and 2015. The new energy will cost 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, a price described as "highly competitive"