Canadian small wind market flourishes despite economic downturn

(ADPnews) - Oct 14, 2010 - The market for small wind energy systems in Canada is developing rather fast with sales rising 55% year-on-year over the past two years, despite the economic crisis, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) reports.

"With Canadian manufacturers exporting 87 per cent of their sales, Canada is especially well positioned to benefit from the global rise in small wind sales, as it is home to more than half of the world's manufacturers of small wind turbines in the 30 to 100 kW range," Emilie Moorhouse, CanWEA's small wind policy manager, said. Small wind facilities have a capacity below 300 kW and mainly power farms, homes, off-grid communities and small businesses.

CanWEA projects that the sector could grow at an average rate of 40% in the coming 15 year, opening around 17,900 additional workplaces in production and installation, if supported by favourable government policies. The annual growth rate would be around 15% without government support.

"As the small wind market follows large wind's growth, favourable policies and feed-in-tariffs for small wind could help Canada take its place as a dominant manufacturer, much as Denmark did with the growth of its own wind industry in the 1990's." Moorhouse added.

At present, there are no incentives for small wind facilities in Canada, except for the province of Saskatchewan. The case is exactly the opposite in the UK and the US, where there are feed-in-tariffs or rebates for small wind systems.

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