Canada forecast to add 6.2 GW of wind by 2026

Canada will see 6.2 GW of new wind power installations in the period from 2017 to 2026, with a westward shift of projects, MAKE Consulting forecasts in its North America Wind Power Outlook 2017.

According to the firm, till 2019 most of the new capacity will continue to be installed in eastern Canada. From late 2019, however, with procurements in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the balance of demand will shift westward.

In eastern Canada, only Quebec will add meaningful wind capacity after 2021 thanks to demand from the US Northeast.

The US, meanwhile, is set to experience another boom and bust cycle, according to report, unveiled on Tuesday. The latest extension of the production tax credit (PTC) is expected to result in about 40 GW of installations from 2017 to 2020. In the absence of long-term policy drivers after 2021, however, wind will be competing purely on the basis of levelised cost of energy (LCOE). This will lead to only 11.5 GW of onshore wind being installed from 2022 to 2026, mainly in a small number of states in the central part of the country, MAKE says.

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