The National Energy Board says a renewable power project building spree between 2005 and 2015 took its share of overall generations in Canada from 2% to 11% as reported by Globalnews.
NEB chief economist Shelley Milutinovic says the buildup means Canada is the 4th largest generator in the world of environmentally friendly power from sources that include solar, wind, biomass and hydroelectric plants.
Renewable generation capacity grew by 26% from about 75,000 megawatts in 2005 to nearly 95,000 megawatts in 2015 as reported by the federal regulator’s report, the country’s Renewable Power Landscape.
The report also stated that hydroelectric power capacity grew by about 9% to over 79,000 megawatts during the decade. Traditional coal-fired power capacity went down by 6,230 megawatts and natural gas capacity went up by 8400 megawatts.
Milutinovic said that Canada is the 4th on renewables after China, Brazil and the United States. Canada is 2nd in the world in terms of hydro production after China. She also said that she’s expecting the trend to renewable power to continue thanks to the support from consumers and the government. She also added that almost every province and territory has some sort of policy to encourage or promote renewables.
The report notes that 11% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions came from the electricity sector in 2014, the latest year for which statistics were available. That is down from about 16% in 2005.
Between 2000 to 2014, emissions from the power sector fell 40% due to the phase out of coal in Ontario and actions to bring down emissions in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Nova Scotia and Ontario have seen the largest gains in renewable power generation over the decade with its proportion in Ontario increasing from 23% to 34% and Nova Scotia from 12% to 24%.
Hydro power is the dominant source of electricity in Canada that accounts for 55% of total installed capacity. Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Yukon and Labrador get more than 85% of their power from hydro.Meanwhile, Alberta at 90%, Saskatchewan at 83% and Nunavut 100% rely on coal and natural gas.
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