Prince Edward Island has a valuable new technological resource to encourage wind energy development in the province. The Prince Edward Island Wind Atlas was unveiled today by Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Jamie Ballem.
The atlas is an online interactive map which identifies areas that have the best potential for future wind energy development. The map uses a colour-coding system to provide a general picture of wind speeds throughout the province, and map users can zoom in to find more detailed information on the wind resource in any particular area.
“We knew from experience at the North Cape Wind Farm and wind monitoring at the eastern tip of the province that these areas have among the highest wind speeds in North America,” said Minister Ballem. “The wind atlas confirms there are many other areas of the province where the wind resource is almost as strong. I believe this will open the door to even greater opportunities for wind energy development in Prince Edward Island.”
The Prince Edward Island Wind Atlas was created by research scientists associated with the Environment Program at the Université de Moncton. Dr. Yves Gagnon, a professor at the university and director of the research project which produced the atlas, represented the group at the unveiling.
“Wind energy, a renewable energy source, is a huge, untapped natural resource on PEI. This resource can be exploited economically to the benefit of the people of PEI, with the added value of minimum impacts to the environment,” said Dr. Gagnon.
The PEI atlas was created starting with weather data from the Canada Wind Atlas, as well as provincial data on topography and land use. A computer modelling system was used to create the atlas and data from the Energy Corporation’s wind monitoring stations was used to confirm the validity of the model. The Prince Edward Island Wind Atlas has a resolution of 200 metres which means wind resource information is available for any 200-by-200 metre area in the province. The resolution of the Canadian Wind Atlas is five kilometres so this new tool provides much more precise information for Island landowners, government and private wind energy developers, electricity utilities, researchers and others interested in wind energy development.
The Prince Edward Island Wind Atlas can be viewed at www.peiwindatlas.ca . It will be featured in a poster session at the Canadian Wind Energy Association annual conference and trade show in Toronto next week. Minister Ballem will be speaking to conference participants during the Atlantic Policy Session Tuesday, October 18.
The creation of a wind atlas is one of the action items in PEI’s Renewable Energy Strategy. Through the Energy Corporation, the Government of Prince Edward Island has invested approximately $200,000 in wind monitoring over the last two years, and $35,000 in the wind atlas project.