Wind Energy

CanWEA Celebrates the Arrival of Wind Turbine Towers Made with 100% Ontario Steel

The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) is pleased to celebrate the arrival and installation of the first domestic content compliant turbines in Ontario under the Feed-in-Tariff program (FIT) at its Pointe-Aux-Roches wind project in southwestern Ontario. The Pointe-Aux-Roches Wind Project is the first wind power project to go to construction under the Feed-in Tariff program and utilizes 100% Ontario steel in its towers. Pointe-Aux-Roches’s turbine towers were manufactured from steel that was processed and fabricated at Essar Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

"The steel in these towers provides an example of the new economic benefits wind energy is delivering to Ontario under the Green Energy Act (GEA)," said Robert Hornung, president of CanWEA. "Ontario’s new long-term energy plan builds on the GEA to provide the vision and policy stability required to accelerate new investment in wind turbine component manufacturing across the province. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible in terms of new green jobs for Ontario."

Canada currently has 3,549 MW of installed wind energy capacity. Ontario is the provincial leader in installed wind energy capacity with 1,298 MW (one-third) of wind energy development. Quebec and Alberta follow at 663MW and 656 MW respectively (one-third), and Canada’s remaining seven provinces together account for the remaining one-third.

CanWEA is the voice of Canada’s wind energy industry, actively promoting the responsible and sustainable growth of wind energy on behalf of its more than 450 members. A national non-profit association, CanWEA serves as Canada’s leading source of credible information about wind energy and its social, economic and environmental benefits. To join other global leaders in the wind energy industry, CanWEA believes Canada can and must reach its target of producing 20 per cent or more of the country’s electricity from wind by 2025.

www.canwea.ca