ARCHIVED – Canada’s Renewable Power Landscape 2017 – Energy Market Analysis

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The Canadian flag composed of maple leaves.

New in this report

This update to Canada’s Renewable Power Landscape 2016 has several new features.

Non-renewable data

Canada’s Renewable Power Landscape focused on renewables. This report includes data for all individual fuels used for power generation. Data is also presented now for all electricity sources by province and territory, for the years 2005, 2015, and 2016.

TABLE 1 Electric Capacity and Generation in Canada

  Capacity in MW and % Generation in GW.h and %
  2005 2015 2016 2005 2015 2016
Oil and Diesel 4 795 3 842 3 837 10 608 4 041 3 436
3.9% 2.7% 2.6% 1.8% 0.6% 0.5%
Natural Gas 13 191 22 006 21 499 40 875 66 060 65 512
10.8% 15.2% 14.7% 6.8% 10.2% 9.3%
Coal 16 003 9 661 9 661 96 750 62 256 60 374
13.1% 6.7% 6.6% 16.1% 9.6% 9.3%
Nuclear 12 805 14 273 14 273 86 669 95 682 95 418
10.5% 9.9% 9.7% 14.4% 14.8% 14.6%
Solar 17 2 135 2 310 0 3 001 3 568
<0.1% 1.5% 1.6% 0.0% 0.5% 0.5%
Biomass 1 804 2 414 2 702 7 688 12 511 13 214
1.5% 1.7% 1.8% 1.3% 1.9% 2.0%
Wind 557 11 072 11 902 1 453 28 314 30 462
0.5% 7.6% 8.1% 0.2% 4.4% 4.7%
Hydro 72 890 79 434 80 403 358 387 374 116 383 392
59.7% 54.8% 54.8% 59.5% 57.9% 58.8%
All renewable sources 75 268 95 056 97 317 367 528 417 942 430 636
61.7% 65.6% 66.4% 61.0% 64.7% 66.0%
All sources 122 061 144 838 146 588 602 430 645 981 652 375

Area graphs

An area graph depicts the percentage share of generation from each source, over the years 2005 to 2016. It shows changes over time in the mix of fuels used for power generation.

Area graphs

Capacity Changes in 2016

This report discusses capacity changes in 2016. It describes the annual, incremental changes made to Canada’s power landscape, including the steady growth of renewables.

Data Sources and Methodology

The generation data for the years 2005 to 2016 are historical values based on data from Statistics Canada. Data for oil and diesel, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, and hydro generation is derived from Statistics Canada’s CANSIM series 127-0007 and 127-0006. These values are also used in Canada’s Energy Future 2017: Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2040 (EF2017) up to 2015. Generation data for biomass and solar in 2016 is taken from EF2017. Capacity data for the years 2005 to 2015 is based on Statistics Canada data. Capacity in 2016 is a modeled estimate based on the NEB’s energy supply and demand model, which is used in EF2017.

GHG data comes from the 2017 release of Canada’s National Inventory Report 1990-2015. This contains emissions GHG data for the years from 1990 to 2015.

Residential electricity bill data comes from Hydro Québec. The Canadian average monthly residential bill is the population weighted average of the representative city in each province or territory. The weight is by the population of each province.

GHG intensity dial

A dial displays the average grams of greenhouse gasses (g GHG) emitted per kilowatt hour (kW.h) of electricity generated in each province and territory. GHG intensity is expressed in grams of GHG emitted per kW.h of electricity generated. It varies greatly by region depending on the sources of electricity.

GHG intensity dial

Electricity price dial

A second dial displays the average monthly residential bill for 1 000 kW.h of electricity in the most populous cityFootnote 1 in each province and territory. A number of factors, including the local mix of electricity sources and transmission, distribution and administration costs contribute to the total cost of electricity to consumers. Prices also vary throughout each province and territory.

Electricity price dial

Grams of Greenhouse Gases

In this report emissions from power generation are graphically shown in grams of greenhouse gases per kilowatt hour (g GHG / kW.h). Different greenhouse gases have different global warming potentials compared to CO2. Greenhouse gases can be measured in terms of CO2 equivalent, this is the amount of CO2 that would cause the same amount of warming. Grams of greenhouse gases is the mass of CO2 equivalent.

 

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