Wind Power Energy in Québec Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 88 and in Sweden Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? Wind Power Energy in Québec and in Sweden Justin Rouillard Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? Justin Rouillard Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences Master Thesis E, in Sustainable Development, 30 credits Printed at Department of Earth Sciences, Master’s Thesis Geotryckeriet, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 2012. E, 30 credits Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 88 Wind Power Energy in Québec and in Sweden Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? Justin Rouillard Supervisor: Mikael Höök Evaluator: Kjell Aleklett Content 1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………….5 1.1 Aims and Scope …………………………………………………………………………………….5 1.2 Comparing Québec and Sweden ………………………………………………………………….. 6 1.3 Layout ……………………………………………………………………………………………....7 1.4 Limitations ……………………………………………………………………………………….....8 2. Pollution and Energy Systems …………………………………………………………………....9 2.1 The Situation in Québec …………………………………………………………………………....9 2.2 The Situation in Sweden ………………………………………………………………………….12 2.3 Comparison between Québec and Sweden ……………………………………………………….20 3. Wind Power Energy ……………………………………………………………………………..23 3.1 History of Wind Power Energy …………………………………………………………………...23 3.2 Wind Power in Québec ……………………………………………………………………………25 3.3 Wind Power in Sweden …………………………………………………………………………...27 3.4 Comparison between Québec and Sweden ……………………………………………………….29 3.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Power ………………………………………………….29 4. Government Regulations and Incentives to Wind Power ……………………………………..34 4.1 Québec’s Strategy …………………………………………………………………………………34 4.2 Sweden’s Strategy ………………………………………………………………………………...36 4.3 Comparison between Québec and Sweden ………………………………………………………..39 4.4 Other Examples in the World ……………………………………………………………………. 39 4.5 Wind Economics ………………………………………………………………………………... .43 4.6 Recommendations for Québec and Sweden …………………………………………………….. .45 5. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………,.46 6 Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………………………………..48 7. References ………………………………………………………………………………………..49 8. Appendix …………………………………………………………………………………………59 Wind Power Energy in Québec and in Sweden: Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? JUSTIN ROUILLARD Rouillard, J., 2012: Wind Power Energy in Québec and in Sweden: Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? Master Thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No., 60 pp., 30 ECTS/hp. Abstract: For several years now it has been indicated by the scientific research that human activity has a definite impact on the temperature of the Earth. There are different ways of reducing anthropogenic climate change, to consume less energy for instance, but also to use renewable sources of energy. Since the wind power market is growing rapidly lately, it seemed interesting to compare how different countries have developed wind power energy and how they intend to do it in the future. Sweden has developed wind power energy for a long time and since Québec, a Canadian province, is similar to the Scandinavian country in many aspects; it was interesting to determine if the province of Québec in Canada can learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy. When looking to stimulate wind power on their respective territories, it seems that Sweden and Québec have very different approaches to the development of that energy. In Québec, the governmental policy is criticised because it gives too much latitude to private companies when it is almost the opposite in Sweden, where the government is charged to have introduced too many restrictions and environmental policies that hinder the development of wind power. The conclusion is that Québec can learn from Sweden and from Sweden’s mistakes in the wind energy sector, but also from more successful countries like Denmark and Germany. First, Québec could benefit from having a more decentralised development strategy i.e. giving more power to local authorities and local populations. Second, Québec needs stronger economic incentives providing a stable market for developers. Keywords: Sustainable Development, Wind Power, Québec, Sweden, Energy Systems. Justin Rouillard, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. Wind Power Energy in Québec and in Sweden: Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? JUSTIN ROUILLARD Rouillard, J., 2012: Wind Power Energy in Québec and in Sweden: Can the province of Québec (Canada) learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy? Master Thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No.88, 60 pp., 30 ECTS/hp. Popular Summary: For several years now it has been indicated by the scientific research that human activity has a definite impact on the temperature of the Earth. In fact, human activity on the planet, like energy consumption, causes climate change. There are different ways to reduce climate change, to consume less energy for instance, but also to use renewable sources of energy. A renewable source of energy is a form of energy coming from natural resources: like wind power, hydro power and solar power to name a few. They are in opposition to non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuel. Since the global wind power market is growing rapidly lately, it seemed interesting to compare how different countries have developed wind power energy and how they intend to do it in the future. Sweden has developed wind power energy for a long time and since Québec, a Canadian province, is similar to the Scandinavian country in many facets; it was interesting to determine if the province of Québec in Canada can learn from Sweden in the field of wind power energy. In fact, it is coherent to compare them because they have almost the same population and are similar in plenty of social, economic, political and geographical aspects. For example, both states have low greenhouse gas emissions compared to other developed countries, because most of their electricity is generated by hydroelectricity for Québec and by hydro as well as nuclear power for Sweden. However, Sweden is more advanced than Québec in policies reducing polluting emissions and fighting climate change. Concerning wind power energy, although Sweden appeared to be behind several other European countries, the Scandinavian country was always in front of Québec, part of North-America where environmental consciousness is less developed. In fact, today, Sweden has approximately the double of the installed capacity of Québec. This can be partly explained by the program of tradable green certificates instituted by the Swedish government in 2003 as well as the aggressive renewable energy targets. When looking to stimulate wind power on their respective territories, it seems that Sweden and Québec have very different approaches to the development of that energy. In Québec, the governmental policy is criticised because it gives too much power to private companies when it is almost the opposite in Sweden, where the government is charged to have introduced too many restrictions and environmental policies that hinder the development of wind power. The conclusion is that Québec can learn from Sweden and from Sweden mistakes in the wind energy sector, but also from more successful countries like Denmark and Germany. First, Québec could benefit from having a more decentralised development strategy i.e. giving more power to local authorities and local populations. Second, Québec needs stronger economic incentives providing a stable market for developers. Keywords: Sustainable Development, Wind Power, Québec, Sweden, Energy Systems. Justin Rouillard, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. 1. Introduction For several years now it has been indicated by the scientific research that human activity has a definite impact on the temperature of the Earth. In the long run, this impact could be devastating for any living creatures on the planet since it may harm several species including humans and create significant disasters. Therefore, we now need to fight that anthropogenic climate change and one way to do it is to reduce our greenhouse gases emissions. There are different ways of reducing our emissions, to consume less energy for instance, but also to use renewable sources of energy. There are several renewable sources of energy, the main ones are: the sun, the wind, the hydropower, the heat from the earth and the biofuels. These forms of energy generate no or few greenhouse gases emissions. Solar energy is used to supply heat, light, hot water and electricity1. The main disadvantage of solar powered energy is that the present technology is not very efficient. Another form of energy, hydropower, is a very efficient way of producing electricity using dams that can retain water and use the motion of this element to generate power. Unfortunately, significant dam projects are not considered totally green because they trigger the flooding of immense territories, which can significantly disturb ecosystems. Geothermal energy is quite fascinating because it pumps the heat stored in the soil and transforms it into electricity. Although that energy has a very high efficiency, it is not