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Electricity generated from wind factories is notoriously inefficient. This is because wind blows erratically, sometimes strongly, sometimes breezily, and sometimes scarcely at all. When the windspeed is low, the uptake of electricity by the Ontario power grid is not possible. Optimum windspeed for wind turbines is about 50 km an hour. The fluctuations in the wind speed mean that the power fed into the grid surges and falls erratically; to keep the supply steady, existing fossil-fuel-burning sources have to be turned up and down rapidly. This attempt to stabilize the grid leads to brown-outs and voltage surges. The more wind-generated power that is fed into the grid, the more impossible it becomes for OPG to maintain network stability.
Proponents of wind energy like to claim that "the wind always blows somewhere." GE Energy, conducting a study in Ontario's Great Lakes basin within reach of high-voltage power lines, found that the wind did not blow to any extent on several days in January 2005 and even more days in July 2005. On many more days there was no appreciable wind for several hours during those periods across the whole study area. (Copy and paste the following URL into your browser to read the Ontario Wind Integration Study at www.uwig.org/OPA-Report-200610-1.pdf. At the other extreme, when the wind blows above 70 km an hour, the turbines must be stopped in order to avoid damage. A consequence of this sort of variability in wind strength is that no amount of wind energy will lead to the shutdown of any existing power-generating station in Ontario.
For a full discussion of the ineffeciencies of wind power, see the presentation made by Dr. David Lee, an engineer with a strong interest in energy, especially the supply and cost of electricity, to a Public Meeting in Kingsville, Ontario. (This document is on the Wolfe Island Residents for the Environment site under Links/Documents, "Documents to Download and Review.")
See also a study by Energy Probe, "Review of Wind Power Results in Ontario: May to October 2006" and other informative studies on the Energy Probe website under "Alternative Energy."
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