In Canada, groups that strongly oppose the production of industrial wind farms are gaining momentum.
According to the National Post, activists attempting to stop industrial wind farming believe they finally have the political backing from the Liberal government. These groups have been trying for more than a decade to stop these wind farms.
“It looks like this will be the land,” said Jane Wilson, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a group opposed to industrial wind farms. “I don’t know how the government could possibly justify more.”
Ontario power rates have significantly increased over the last eight years with residents paying more than $37 billion above market price for electricity. If rates continue on this path, it’s been projected that the rates end up costing Ontario citizens another $133 billion over the next 17 years.
“We inherited an electricity system that had been badly neglected under the previous government,” read the Energy Ministry’s official statement. “Brown outs, black outs, and smog days put our economy and our people at risk. We took that dirty, unreliable electricity system and we made it clean.”
In the U.S., wind energy produces 16 billion kWh per year, which is enough to power over 1.6 million homes.
Amazon — ecommerce and cloud computing powerhouse — agreed to purchase a Texas-based wind farm in late September.
According to Bloomberg Markets, Lincoln Clean Energy LLC is developing a 253-megawatt wind farm. The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2017 and will provide power to just fewer than 90,000 U.S. homes.
“Direct purchasing by large, long-term thinking customers like Amazon has quickly become a key driver of the transition to renewable power across the U.S.,” said Declan Flanagan, CEO of Lincoln Clean Energy.
Amazon plans on developing energy farms in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana.