Market opportunity

Wind power is now the world's fastest growing source of power generation and North America is one of the fastest growing and most prolific wind power markets.   Uncertainty over fossil fuel supplies and prices and the desire for carbon-free sources of power generation have combined to drive this robust growth. As an experienced developer, GreenWing is a well positioned leader in developing renewable energy to meet the North American demand.

The United States Market

In 2008, about 42% of all the wind generating capacity added in the world was installed in the U.S.  Along with the significant contribution to the electricity supply, 35,000 jobs were created in operations, construction and manufacturing.

The renewable energy measures in President Obama’s stimulus bill will help sustain that momentum and will encourage additional clean energy investment and job creation.  Further renewable energy direction is expected to be established by the Obama Administration in a new Energy Policy in 2009.

The major energy parts of the 2009 stimulus bill include:

• A three-year extension to the production tax credit for wind, which would have expired at the end of this year, and an extension until the end of 2013 for geothermal and biomass renewable-energy projects. The credit has been increased to 30 percent of the investment.
• $4.5 billion in direct spending to modernize the electricity grid with smart-grid technologies.
• $6.3 billion in state energy-efficient and clean-energy grants and $4.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient.
• $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy systems, biofuel projects, and electric-power transmission facilities.
• $2 billion in loans to manufacture advanced batteries and components for applications such as plug-in electric cars.
• $3.4 billion appropriated to the Department of Energy for fossil energy research and development, such as storing carbon dioxide underground at coal power plants.

The Canadian Market

In 2008, Canada became the 12th country in the world to surpass 2,000 MW of installed wind energy capacity (2,369 MW). While the federal Canadian government’s support for renewable energy does not appear to be as strong as the new federal US administration, there are heartening signs that, at the provincial-level, renewable energy will be a large part of additions to the Canadian electricity generation portfolio.

Last year, the province of Quebec alone awarded 15 wind energy contracts totaling 2,000 MW. In January 2009, Ontario announced long-term contracts for six new wind energy projects totaling 492 MW and, in February 2009, announced a new Energy Policy that will continue to support renewable energy with a forward-thinking “feed-in” tariff.

Manitoba aims to reach its goal of developing 1,000 MW of wind energy by 2016.  Alberta is designing transmission upgrades to accommodate 3,000 MW of new wind energy developments. And British Columbia’s new energy targets could result in the installation of up to 2,000 MW of wind energy.

Several other provinces have promising wind energy development plans. According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association, if current provincial targets or plans are achieved, Canada is projected to reach a minimum of 12,000 MW of installed capacity by 2016 and 18,000 MW by 2020.