The basic rule in business that bigger is better also applies to the wind energy business, said Bob Spensley, a spokesperson for Sequoia Energy in Winnipeg.
“If projects are only going to be awarded based on price, I don’t think those small projects can compete,” said Spensley, managing director of community partnerships for Sequoia, a renewable energy company that built Manitoba’s only wind farm near St. Leon.
“I’d like to say that it was easier. But just like farming it’s economies of scale …. When you buy turbines (and) you buy in bulk … you’ll get a decreased price per turbine,” he said, noting that small and large projects have to do the same meteorological studies before construction.
Read Also
Canada’s oat crop looks promising
The oat crop looks promising and that’s a good thing because demand is strong.
“If you’re building a project with just two turbines, you still have to bring in that 500 ton crawler crane (to erect the turbines).”
Spensley said Sequoia is using the bigger is cheaper economic advantage to develop two 150 megawatt wind farms – one near Rolla, North Dakota, and the other by Beechy, Sask.
Despite his rhetoric about the advantage of size, Spensley said a community project with one or two turbines could work, if it receives a higher price per electron.
“There are some jurisdictions that favour having smaller projects, and those utilities are willingly paying more to accommodate those cost differences.”
Spensley believes both small and large wind farms can help communities.
“I believe you can do that with large-scale projects too, if they’re managed well.”
Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said small wind farms need to have a role in Canada’s energy portfolio.
He said financial incentives are needed to make that happen.
The Ontario government has decided to offer a payment bonus of a half-cent or a cent per kilowatt hour for community-based ventures and aboriginal proposals, Hornung said.
B.C. also provides a bonus for renewable energy for projects smaller than 10 megawatts.
