A review of existing renewable energy facilities in Canada

This first annual report on renewable energy in the Canadian electricity sector includes records from 629 power plants across Canada. Renewable energy sources include wind, hydroelectricity, wood residue biomass, landfill/sewage gas, solar photovoltaic, municipal solid waste, and tidal energy. The data in this report was acquired from Statistics Canada and other public information sources. For each of the 629 renewable energy power plants, this report states its type of renewable energy, the province, the name of the project, its location, its operator, electrical generating capacity, number of generating units, average annual electricity production, and the year it began operation. The majority (64 per cent) of Canada's total installed power capacity comes from renewable energy sources, with the dominant source being hydroelectricity. Manitoba has the highest portion of renewable energy at almost 98 per cent of its installed electrical capacity. Nearly half of Canada's renewable power capacity is in Quebec, followed by 18 per cent in British Columbia. Nova Scotia has Canada's only tidal power plant. Approximately 80 per cent of the total installed renewable energy power capacity in Canada is owned by integrated electric utilities. Eleven per cent is owned by renewable electricity generating companies, 5 per cent is owned by aluminium companies, and 3 per cent is owned by pulp and paper companies. The rest is owned by diversified electricity generators. It is expected that with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol interest in renewable energy will grow. 6 refs., 3 tabs., 2 figs., 1 appendix