Wind Energy FAQ

Wind power can be thought of as a form of solar energy as heat from the sun causes wind to circulate on the Earth’s surface. Wind can be harnessed directly to produce electricity when it spins the blades of a wind turbine, which drives an electric power generator. Advances in aerodynamics and materials have made electricity generation from wind turbines economically cost competitive. Wind power is a renewable resource that produces clean energy – with no emissions and no hazardous wastes.

A wind farm is a cluster of wind turbines that harvest the power of the wind, and is usually connected to the electric grid of a utility for widespread consumption of its electricity. Wind farms are located in areas with reliably favourable wind speeds, and can be comprised of 10 to over 100 turbines.

Renewable energy is generated from sources that are essentially inexhaustible. Unlike the burning of fossil fuels, of which there is a finite supply, renewable energy sources are more sustainable, cause relatively few environmental impacts and pose very low risk to human health.

Renewable energy sources include technologies such as wind power, solar photovoltaic and thermal energy, water power, geothermal energy and biomass energy.

Solar and wind power are the fastest-growing types of electricity generation in the world.

Green power is synonymous with renewable energy. Resulting in lower air pollution emissions and no nuclear waste, green power is clean electricity. The term is used to describe consumer preferences for choices for electricity generated by environment-friendly technologies.

Wind power is particularly suitable for Ontario for many reasons.

• It is cost competitive.
• Ontario depends significantly on water power, and wind power generation complements this very well. When wind speeds are relatively high, water power generation can be reduced and the water stored in reservoirs until winds are calmer.
• When wind farms provide power to the electricity grid, they allow polluting fossil-fuel-fired plants to be turned down, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Wind power provides energy security because it reduces Ontario’s dependency on imports of electricity and/or combustion of fossil fuels, and because the free “fuel” is not subject to international price volatility.
• Wind power will further diversify Ontario’s energy supply mix, helping the Government of Ontario achieve its target of producing an additional 10% of its electricity from renewable sources of energy by 2010.
• Since it is clean, the use of wind power reduces toxic wastes and air or water pollution that can be fatal to people and wildlife, and greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

A telephone survey of 300 Essex County residents in March 2009, conducted for the Green Energy Act Alliance, indicated that 88% supported increased electricity supply from wind farms.

According to a survey conducted in September 2007 of 1,000 Québec residents, they seem to like wind farms more after living with them. Of the 500 respondents who lived within 10km of a wind farm in the Gaspésie region for over a year, 83% were very or fairly favourable toward wind farms before their construction and 86% after installation. 44% were very favourable about them, whereas only 4% were not at all. 74% of residents living near a wind farm believed that it did not hinder tourism; 73% believed that it had brought significant economic spin-offs in the region; and 72% believed it posed no health risks. 61% of all respondents thought that wind turbines are very or rather beautiful.

• The David Suzuki Foundation (working through science and education to provide innovative solutions that will help build a clean, competitive economy which does not threaten the natural services that support all life) states in its report “Smart Generation: Powering Ontario With Renewable Energy”: Ontario can install 8,000 megawatts of wind energy to supply 9% of its current demand for electricity by 2012. Doing so will produce nearly $14 billion in economic benefits and create almost 100,000 person-years of employment.
• The Pembina Institute (a national non-profit organization dedicated to advance sustainable energy solutions through innovative research, education, consulting and advocacy): Studies by Pembina and others have found that Ontario has over 62,000 megawatts of green and clean energy potential that could be developed by 2010, more than double the province’s projected electricity needs.
• Pollution Probe (a Canadian charitable environmental organization that defines environmental problems through research, promotes understanding through education, and presses for practical solutions through advocacy): Recent opinion polls show that an overwhelming majority of Canadians support the use of Green Power (including wind farms) as a source of electricity. Green Power, with its promise of low- or non-polluting, climate-friendly energy, must be a major component of any strategy to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and move towards a sustainable energy future.
• The Canadian Renewable Energy Alliance (an alliance of 10 Canadian civil society organizations from the non-profit or voluntary sector, including the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association and Greenpeace, that promote a global transition to energy conservation and efficiency and use of low-impact renewable energy, to address global climate change, pollution, global energy supply, human security, poverty eradication and economic sustainability): Canada is lagging behind the rest of the world on the use of renewable energy, yet it has more renewable energy resources than most other countries. We are missing out on one of the fastest growing energy sources of the 21st century and best ways to tackle global warming. Renewable energy technology can be deployed quickly and reduce greenhouse gases immediately.

According to a 2009 study by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, wind power is by far the most promising alternative energy source. The study is the first of its kind to evaluate nine energy sources based not only on their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. Wind had the lowest lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, since wind turbines are more than 99% carbon free over their 30-year lifetime. Compared to other sources, wind power reduces more pollution-related deaths and requires a relatively small land footprint. While intermittency is often cited as a drawback of wind, the research group found this could be managed by using smart meters, backup generators such as hydropower, energy storage techniques like batteries and improved weather forecasting, and by interconnecting geographically-diverse energy sources.

Total installed wind power capacity increased between 2000 and 2009 at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of: 43% per year to 3,300 MW in Canada, 34% to 35,200 MW in the United States and 28% to 157,900 MW worldwide.. The Canadian Wind Energy Association has reported that the 950 MW of wind power capacity was installed in 2009 represented new investment of $2 billion and enough to power one million homes, or about 1.1% of our country’s total electricity consumption. The comparable numbers in Denmark were about 20%, Spain 13%, Germany and Portugal 10%, Ireland and Greece 5%


In 2009, Canada ranked 11th in the world for total installed wind energy capacity.

Wind is variable, but as an increasing number wind farms are developed throughout Ontario, wind power will become a more reliable source of energy for Ontario. This is because most of the time, wind is blowing in many regions near Ontario's power grid, and most wind farms generate at least some power most of the time. In addition, wind power can allow hydro electric stations to store water for generation when the wind is calmer.

Yes; the wind projects announced in the province's recent Requests For Proposals (RFPs) represent a portion of Ontario's commitment to develop 10% additional energy capacity from new renewable sources by 2010 and are key to the government's long-term strategy for meeting its energy supply and emission reduction objectives.

The supply mix directive from the Minister of Energy to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) calls for 5,000 MW of renewable energy, much of which is wind.

Although it is a relatively new industry, it is subsidized to a much lesser extent than the nuclear and fossil-fuel-fired power generation industries, yet wind power is competitive on the basis of cost per kWh.