The US, Canada and Mexico have agreed to reach 50% clean power generation by 2025, the countries’ leaders said after meeting in Ottawa.
US president Barack Obama, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto said their nations will work together to advance clean energy development and deployment, including renewables, nuclear, carbon capture and storage technologies.
American Wind Energy Association CEO Tom Kiernan said wind power is already supplying significant clean energy generation and will help North America reach the new goal.
“Wind energy has accounted for 77% of the growth in non-emitting generation in the US over the last 10 years and these three countries already obtain nearly 40% of their electricity from zero-emission generation today,” said Kiernan.
“Thanks to wind power’s 66% cost decline over the last six years, homegrown wind energy is already on track to double by 2020 in the US. As the lowest-cost zero-emission energy source by a large margin, wind energy will be the workhorse to meet future carbon reduction targets, while saving consumers money.”
The three leaders also pledged to support cross-border transmission projects to help clean and increase the reliability and flexibility of North America’s electricity grid.
At least six transmission lines currently proposed or in permitting review, such as the Great Northern Transmission Line, the New England Clean Power Link and the Nogales Interconnection, would add about 5GW of new cross-border transmission capacity.
The three countries also agreed to reduce demand through energy efficiency and a number of other initiatives to boost cooperation.
Image: Morgue File
