Onshore Results
After performing the weighted sum certain areas of British Columbia were identified as viable wind resources. The suitability of a cell of land was assigned scores ranging 0-100. The minimum score 44.75% was and the maximum score was 100 %. For the purposes of this analysis, any cell of land that received a score higher than 70% on the weighted sum is considered suitable land for wind farm development. The suitable lands can be found in the Peace River, Kitimat-Stikine, Northern Rockies, Skeena Queen Charlotte, and Central Coast regions of British Columbia. Many small towns and communities in British Columbia are not connected to the central power grid, which means they have to rely on other methods to generate energy. One such method is the burning of fossil fuels such as diesel in diesel generators to generate electricity. These small cities can mostly be found in northern British Columbia where power transfer infrastructure is still being developed. Therefore, it is important to identify areas in northern British Columbia for wind farm development as wind farms can be constructed to curb the use of fossil fuel generators.
Three main areas were identified as viable areas for wind farm development, two of which are located in northern British Columbia: One in north eastern British Columbia among the Rocky Mountain Foothills and the other is located in north western British Columbia. The third area of interest for wind farm development is located along the coast of British Columbia. The north eastern British Columbia location shows the most promise as evidenced by the fact there are already wind farm developments in the area. Coastal BC is another area that scored particularly high, which is most likely due to stronger winds associated with vicinity to the water. The most interesting area suitable for wind development is in north western British Columbia, which is better known for its supplies of natural resources. We have identified suitable areas for wind development in the region, but our research shows that there is only a very small amount of wind power development. This is most likely due to the lack of power transfer infrastructure in the region. However an extension and upgrade of the Northwest Transmission Line is the works. According to BC Hydro, the new line would provide a reliable supply of clean power to potential industrial developments in the area; provide a secure interconnection point for clean generation projects; and potentially assist certain northwest communities to access the electricity grid, rather than obtaining their power from diesel generators (BC Hydro 2010).
Onshore Limitations
Bird Densities and Migratory Pathways
Migratory pathways would have shown the direction and distance marine birds needed to travel each season. This would allow a detailed plan of how to align our wind farm in certain directions to mitigate bird collisions. In addition, we were unable to obtain bird densities for our onshore analysis. Further analysis must be conducted on each individual bird species to catalogue their specific migratory paths and foraging distances to designate an ideal buffer distance for each. Therefore, we were unable to find safe proximities to regions with high bird densities into our on-shore analysis.
Bat Density
Due to airborne bat motions they are susceptible to wind farm collisions. However, we were unable to obtain regions with high bat density and were unable to incorporate this factor into our analysis.
Roads and Railways
This data was easily obtainable; however, we did not include it into our analysis because it was not required for the scale of our analysis. The reason is that our analysis is based on viable areas to build a wind farms and not to propose the zoning of a specific site. Roads and railways would be useful if a specific site was chosen to place an onshore wind farm due to the locality that our site would have if in close proximity to these transport arterials. This would be useful in evaluating the efficiency of transporting materials for construction and labourers for maintenance. To the site. Our analysis does not result in a single site for a wind farm. Instead, it is a general overview of prime locations for wind farm in the whole British Columbia region.
Offshore Results
Like the onshore analysis areas of British Columbia coastal waters 0-200m deep were identified and given a score based on the weights used in the weighted sum. The maximum score is 89 and the minimum score is 59. The range of scores was much smaller than the range of scores in the onshore analysis, which is probably a result of the consideration of fewer criterions. The total area that can be considered suitable for
offshore wind development is 9800km For the purposes of this analysis, any cell that received a score higher than 70% is considered suitable land for wind power development. The future of wind power in British Columbia lies in offshore wind plants, which can generate more energy due to higher wind speeds over the water and at a more consistent rate. Furthermore, wind power, especially offshore generate wind power, will work well in tandem with British Columbia’s well-established hydropower system. Although wind patterns over water are much more consistent than wind patterns over land, there will still be times in which wind power will not be enough to meet demands. Hydropower can firm up wind power's intermittency by storing surplus power behind the dams at a time when wind is producing more than is needed (BCSEA 2008). Furthermore, development of deep water floating turbines will allow wind turbines to be placed in deeper waters and further from shore.
Although mostly all of the areas with depth range of 0-200m had suitable wind resource for wind power development, many areas were removed because they were too close to bird colonies or within the buffer zones of important features. In our multi-criteria evaluation, we were able to identify two particular locations off the coast of British Columbia that display prominent suitability for wind energy production. One location is situated between Prince Rupert and the Haida Gwaii, which is in fact, part of the larger Haida Energy Field estimated to have a 15000 MW of potential (BCSEA 2008). A company called Nai Kun is in the final stages of planning for an offshore wind farm within the Haida Energy Field. The Haida Energy Field is a prime area for wind power development and many other companies are seeking to develop the available rich wind energy resources. The other suitable area identified for offshore wind development off the coast of British Columbia is located between the Hecate Strait and the Strait of Georgia. The area is relatively large and relatively undeveloped according to our research. This area is an ideal for further offshore wind power development outside of the Haida Energy Field.
Offshore Limitations
Bathymetry
Our analysis was unable to incorporate precise bathymetry that recorded ocean elevation to the tenth of a meter. Our research revealed that the optimal depth to establish a foundation for a wind farm would be 50 meters (West 2010). Therefore, we were unable to exhibit a proper ocean depth to meet our research. However, we based our analysis on a bathymetry range of 200-2500 meters depth. With this data we were able to locate coastal regions that lay 0-200 meters in depth. Regions with 0-200 meter were where we focused our wind speed evaluation.
Wind Direction
Wind direction was neglected from our analysis due to the difficulty of acquiring average wind directions for the coast of BC. The generation of a wind rose would have been useful in predicting what directions that wind speeds would be consistently blowing from. This would decide the alignment that would channel the most power from of our wind turbines.
Whale and Cetacean Species Densities
Marine mammals sometime migrate to region close to British Columbia’s coast and may be affected by the offshore wind farm. However, we were unable to gather the proper data to analyze their distribution along our coast and predict what distance is needed to buffer away from them. Therefore, we were unable mitigate the affects a wind farm would have on their species.
Shipping Lanes
British Columbia provides a prime locality for import and export of goods via the sea. This directs many shipping lanes across our coastal waters. These lanes may intersect viable locations for an offshore wind farm. To avoid these pathways a dataset with these lanes would have shown where they existed and what proximity our wind farm would need to be to avoid their traffic.
Seabed Composition
Power grid cables need to be buried at approximately 2-5 meters below the seabed to ensure that they will not be damaged or disrupted by dredging and anchorages (Swanson and Isaji 2005). In addition, areas with high sand, mud, and clay content within its seafloor laying provide an efficient surface to install feeder cables. Data on the composition of the oceans floor, would give us a good floor-plan of where to bury our cables.
