All grids are designed with a higher production capacity than is actually used. The second largest export from Denmark is wind technology. In Germany, they have created more than 5,000 direct manufacturing jobs in their internal wind energy market. Given these facts, and the prospects for electrical demand growth in North America in the next few years, I prepared a paper that proposes a wind energy development strategy for Newfoundland. It is short, take a look at it here .
Wind technology is the right scale for developing a manufacturing industry in Newfoundland.
Environmental Issues Wind power means we don't have to burn more fossil fuels. One 15 MW wind farm would save some 500,000 barrels of oil per year. Wind power means we don't have to dam any more rivers and flood any more habitat. Wind power is pretty benign. There used to be concerns about bird collisions but these have largely been resolved.