Science and Technology for Canadians

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Transcript of Video:

Narrator:

Clean and unseen. Wind energy is turning the blades of Toronto’s new turbine – the first in a major North American city. It’s nestled on the lakeshore of Canada’s largest urban centre and provides enough electricity to power 300 homes. Harnessing this non-polluting energy source is increasingly important to Canada and other nations wrestling with international environmental commitments.

Jimmy Royer, Senior Advisor-Wind Energy Technology, Natural Resources Canada

Well it’s a clean technology and it’s a renewable energy technology. And on top of that what I like, it leaves a very small footprint on the earth.

Narrator:

But why place a wind turbine in a big city with  multiple sources of energy? One answer: with support from the Government of Canada, industry is able to demonstrate that wind energy can be an effective part of the energy mix in any  market - large or small.

Jimmy Royer:

Canada has started developing this technology. The market for Canada was also in remote communities and remote application, that’s the reason why small is still very important.

Narrator:

Ramea Island – windswept, small and remote. Here, off Newfoundland’s rugged South coast, we find a unique hybrid wind turbine site.

Six wind turbines will produce about one million kilowatts of electricity a year for this tiny island community. The turbines are linked to Ramea’s primary source of electricity - diesel generators. A unique control system developed by the Government of Canada communicates continuously with the diesel  plant. When the wind is high, the controller eases the diesel load and increases the wind power that is injected into the system – burning less diesel fuel.

The wind power system is designed to compete with relatively low-cost energy providers and is on the leading edge of innovation.

Carl Brothers, General Manager, Frontier Power Systems

This system is going to bring renewable energy into remote communities around the world. And everybody realizes that oil is going to become in shorter and shorter supply and there are two billion people in the world without electricity. So, renewable energy is going to play a big role in supplying electricity to these people.

Narrator:

The potential is enormous. It’s estimated that if wind-diesel systems were installed in Canada’s 168 remote communities, it would mean savings of 330 million litres of diesel fuel – cutting 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year!

Carl Brothers:

We will see eventually thousands of wind turbines installed in communities around the world. And, you know, that’s really the payoff environmentally and we think that once we get done with this there will be some real economic opportunities here. We’re into this because we’re environmentalists, but we think there’s a business case to be made.

Narrator:

That case is being made. Several towns in Canada’s far north are planning to install wind-diesel projects based on the Ramea model. A similar facility is planned for Mexico to promote wind-diesel hybrids in Central and South America. Communities are being lured by environment-friendly technology, dual-system reliability and an endless supply of wind energy.