Using Wind Power
Everyone on PEI knows how windy it is here. PEI has an abundance of wind and Maritime Electric is working to fully maximize wind generated electricity in the Island's electricity supply mix. However, wind-powered electricity has some limitations that have to be taken into account.
Using More PEI Wind Generated Electricity for our Customers
Wind is a great resource for producing electricity – it’s clean and abundant. Many of us have seen the wind turbines at North Cape, West Cape and East Point. While there are varying viewpoints on the benefits of a wind generation facility, one thing everyone can agree on is the benefit of producing emission-free electricity.
Approximately 18% of our electricity sales come from the wind turbines at North Cape and East Point, a level that is unmatched in other Canadian provinces and something many Islanders take pride in. Wind generators now provide a cost competitive source of electricity for Islanders and provide economic benefits for the Island.
Wind generation’s main drawback is its intermittent nature. It is only available when the wind blows. There is currently no economical way to store excess wind generation. There is no way to put the wind on pause and use it at a different time. Predicting the wind – at an accuracy required to reliably operate our system - is an inexact science at best. If there were an economic way to store electricity, PEI could potentially be 100% powered by wind energy. But this is not the case.
Aside from wind generated electricity the balance of PEI’s electricity needs are almost exclusively purchased off Island. The contracts for some of these purchases take into account the wind’s intermittent nature. This makes these contracts somewhat more expensive than straightforward generation contracts due to the unpredictability of when backup will be required for wind generation. The increased cost of backup purchased energy is an added cost to accommodate wind generation and partially offsets the economic benefits derived from wind generation.
The following two charts demonstrate the intermittent nature of wind generation and the variability of the Island’s electricity load.
Click to view the full-sized charts
As can be seen from the above graphs, one of the difficulties in using wind generation to supply PEI’s load is that there are a significant number of hours when there is little or no wind generation.
Another challenge in incorporating wind generated electricity into our supply mix is that there are restrictions on how much additional electricity Maritime Electric can purchase during the early morning hours when electricity demand is lowest. Wind farm developers, on the other hand, are looking for contracts to sell all the electricity produced no matter what the hour. If Maritime Electric agreed to purchase more wind generated electricity than customers can use during this low demand period, the resale of this surplus electricity would be at a price lower than the purchase cost. This would increase the overall cost of wind generated electricity to our customers.
At the appropriate amount, wind generation is a competitively priced source of electricity for Maritime Electric and we continue to work with the Provincial Government to increase the amount of wind, and other renewable forms of generation, up to as much as 30% of our customers' electricity needs.
