In fewer than 20 years, Canada’s wind and solar capacity surged from a few hundred megawatts to more than 16,000 MW. Single wind farms reached sizes of up to 300 MW, and solar achieved 100 MW at some installations. Thousands of individual home and landowners were also generating clean, renewable solar power at smaller scales on their rooftops and properties.

But even with all this growth, scale and diversity of application, the increasingly integrated renewable energy industry has the potential to contribute so much more in Canada.

Cost is a key growth driver. Recent energy procurements in Alberta and Saskatchewan proved wind energy to be the lowest cost source of new electricity in Canada. With 13,413 MW of installed wind energy capacity today, Canada is the world’s ninth largest wind energy producer.

Growing corporate and consumer demand for these technologies is another key growth driver. RBC and Telus Communications are among the companies whose commitments to purchase wind and solar are driving new investment. The Business Renewables Centre Canada, meanwhile, has set a goal of assisting corporations and institutions to procure two gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025.

Source: Wind and Solar: Already Rapid Growth Primed to Accelerate – Canadian Renewable Energy Association