NDP leader Dwayne Lingenfelter recently committed to increase wind power in Saskatchewan by 400 megawatts over the next four years. Incredibly, Mr. Lingenfelter suggested building more wind power would cost about the same as natural gas.

However, the facts suggest otherwise.

Think about it. If the two forms of power were on par, wouldn't we see more wind turbines all over the place?

The reason we don't see the towers everywhere we go is largely due to the fact that wind power isn't reliable - the wind doesn't blow all the time. Second, because it's intermittent, it has to be stored - and storing electricity isn't cheap or easy to do. Thus it has those two strikes against it.

As for how that impacts price in comparison with natural gas, here are three things to consider:

1) A new 138 megawatt wind farm in Manitoba was just built for $345 million
2) The new 138 megawatt Yellowhead natural gas plant in North Battleford just cost Sask taxpayers $187 million
3) Then of course there are operating costs to consider. Well, according to this U.S. energy report, natural gas power costs about 6.3 cents per kilowatt hour while wind power costs 9.7 cents; 54% more.

If Mr. Lingenfelter has some numbers up his sleeve that suggest otherwise, he should release them. Until then, we'll go with the ones that are already out there...

By: Colin Craig
Posted: October 28, 2011
Topic: Saskatchewan

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