Sea Breeze chief not just tilting at windmills as firm positions itself for Island project.
Vancouver Island could soon look like the set of the children’s show Teletubbies if Paul Manson’s vision of a new submarine transmission cable link receives final approval from provincial regulatory bodies.
In Teletubbies, a large windmill turns whenever something “magical” is going to happen, and the four Tubby characters cavort joyfully.
Manson, president of Vancouver-based Sea Breeze Power Corp., could be excused for behaving the same way after his company announced late last year that it has received the first permit awarded in British Columbia for a utility-scale wind farm.
The project is anticipated to use 150 wind turbines to generate 450 megawatts (MW) of clean sustainable power, enough electricity to power about 135,000 homes. “We believe the Knob Hill Wind Farm could become the largest wind farm in the world,” adds Manson.
The cost of the transmission cable link between Vancouver Island and Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, located across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is estimated at $8 million US. The proposed site for the actual wind farm is 35 kilometres west of Port Hardy on the northern tip of Vancouver Island – an area identified as having the best wind potential in the world by the World Energy Council.
“Wind energy is the first of the major renewable energies to have finally broken the price barrier … moreover, it is now clearly competitive with conventional forms of generation,” Manson notes.
In 2004-05, contracts for wind energy are approximately “10 times the wind-generation capacity presently installed throughout the country,” says Manson, “representing a near-term direct investment of an estimated $6 billion Cdn.”
Sea Breeze Power Corp. is also pursuing other opportunities, including “run-of-river” hydro, energy storage, direct current transmission and renewable energy solutions for remote communities. These run-of-river projects divert limited portions of a river’s flow into weirs equipped with turbines. The river’s flow does not change and no water is consumed in generating the electricity. The water flows back into the river slightly downstream with little impact on the ecology of the river.
Wind power is also the fastest-growing energy sector worldwide, with Europe leading the charge, says Manson. Unfortunately, Canada has been a laggard in adopting this new technology, while Europe has enthusiastically embraced all its aspects. Through the provision of tax incentives and research grants, the European Union has created a healthier environment, enabling European firms to develop state-of-the-art wind-power technology and making Europe the global leader in the wind power industry.
The European Wind Energy Association has set a target of 180,000 MW of wind-power generation capacity by 2020, a supply of electricity sufficient for about 180 million people, Manson says.
Can Canada gain a global foothold in the wind-power industry? Yes – in fact, Canada is in a unique position to become the world leader in wind energy, despite our slow start.
Provinces such as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have a high percentage of hydroelectric storage dams. The ability to store hydro energy is a competitive advantage. Storage is achieved by raising the amount of water being dammed when wind power is available on the grid.
When integrated with wind power, hydro “is a proven model of efficiency which will facilitate the tremendous expansion of renewable energy within Canada over the next few years,” adds Manson.
Meanwhile, implementation of the federal government’s incentive program, called the Wind Power Production Incentive, along with ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, has created optimal market conditions across this country.
Manson’s thoughts resonated with me after I attended the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles recently. One of the presenters, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, delivered an outstanding presentation on global warming.
I am now a believer – having watched video clips and graphics, I found the evidence to be irrefutable.
The magnitude of global warming requires immediate change. Wind power is clearly an idea whose time has come. We all need to fully support and assist in removing the barriers that prevent and impede the integration of this sustainable, clean source of power into our national power grids.
Note: This article was originally published in 2005.
