The displacement impacts of wind power electricity generation: Costly lessons from Ontario

Abstract

The displacement impacts of wind power generation on other generation technologies are estimated for Ontario. In addition, their annual financial benefits, costs, and international stakeholder impacts are measured. For every 100 MWh generated, almost 53 MWh of gas output and 23 MWh of hydro output is displaced, and 19 MWh of power is exported. Ontario loses 826.42 million USD annually from having wind power generation in the system, while the US gains 7.50 million USD through electricity exported from Ontario. Wind power generation has produced an estimated 108.98 million USD in reducing CO2 emissions in the US and Ontario through displacing thermal generation. Comparing the environmental benefits with the net cost to consumers shows the promotion of wind power generation to be largely a waste of Ontario's resources.

A stakeholder analysis of investments in wind power electricity generation in Ontario

“…The economic costs of the wind farms that are borne by the country are: (i) their initial capital investments, (ii) their cost of operation and maintenance 5 , and (iii) the decommissioning costs at the end of the projects' useful life 6 . These are the resources used by the more detail in the empirical findings.…”

“…These three wind farms, with a total capacity of 398 MW, are incurring an economic loss of 1,019.88 CAD million. Thus, if the total installed wind capacity of 5,076 MW had approximately the same capital cost per MW, the expected present value of the economic loss would be about ( 5,074 398 * 1, 019.88 ) 13 CAD billion. These estimates of the economic losses are consistent with the financial losses to consumers reported in the Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario (2015).…”

Assessing the Efficiency and CO2 Reduction Performance of China’s Regional Wind Power Industry Using an Epsilon-Based Measure Model

“…Li et al (2020) considered that wind power electricity generation has greater emission reduction potential compared to general coal-fired electricity generation. Bahramian et al (2021) discovered that wind power electricity generation has reduced CO 2 emissions in the United States and Ontario, Canada via the replacement of thermal power electricity generation. Scholars have also analyzed the performance of wind power for energy savings and emission reduction under various research methods, but there is little analysis on the relationship between wind power industry investment and carbon emission reduction.…”

“…There are other studies in the literature that have linked carbon emissions with wind power electricity generation. As emphasized by Wang et al (2019), Li et al (2020) and Bahramian et al (2021), wind power offers excellent emission reduction potential.…”

Economic policy, regulatory policy, or soft policy: Which category of policy can effectively improve the green innovation of Chinese wind power industry?

“…Due to the large amount of carbon emissions, the traditional energy structure relying on fossil fuels is unsustainable (Bahramian et al, 2021; Jiang & Liu, 2021a; Vasstrøm & Lysgård, 2021). As one of the largest carbon emitters, China has set commitments of carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2060.…”