Capacity for renewable power generation grows
Canada-wide capacity for renewable power generation from wind, solar or energy storage inputs has grown by nearly 7,600 megawatts, or 46 per cent, since 2019. Newly released data from the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) pegs current installed capacity from those sources at about 24,000 MW, while another 10,000 MW is in development and slated to come online by the end of 2029.
“This investment is crucial in establishing resilient, sustainable infrastructure that can support Canada’s economic and environmental ambitions,” maintains Vittorio Bellissimo, CanREA’s president and chief executive officer. “Canada has massive, untapped wind and solar resources that can and should be harnessed to provide the affordable, clean, scalable electricity needed in all jurisdictions.”
About CAD $30 billion in investment is now in play for both projects to be completed in the next five years and others with longer development timelines that are projected to deliver an additional 5,000 MW of generating capacity. While wind power accounts for a far greater share of existing supply — at approximately 18,000 MW versus 4,000 MW of utility-scale solar, about1,600 MW of on-site solar and 330 MW of energy storage — solar and energy storage are showing momentum.
CanREA confirms that solar generating capacity grew by 92 per cent in the 2019-2024 period. Canada-wide there are now 217 utility-scale solar generation projects and nearly 96,000 on-site installations providing behind-the-meter or distributed generation. The last five years have also brought a 192 per cent uptick in energy storage capacity.
Gaining on its more established pre-2019 base, wind power registered a 35 per cent gain in installed capacity during the past five years, pushing the tally up to 341 wind generation facilities nationwide. Much of the recent new supply has been gleaned from Alberta.
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