What were the 10 most interesting renewable energy projects in 2011?

1. City of Saskatoon utility-scale wind turbine to be built at the landfill - only the third such project in the world to be built on top of municipal solid waste;

2. Deep Earth Energy Corp's 5 MW geothermal project in Southern Saskatchewan - geothermal is so underrated - it's economical, totally clean and provides base-load generation ad infinitum - with only about 9 500 MW of global geothermal generation, this 5 MW project in Saskatchewan is a big one;

3. Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Project in Southern Saskatchewan - among the first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage facilities in the world;

4. Ridgeline Energy Services greenfill soil remediation project in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan - the facility treats soils impacted by oil and gas development for reuse;

5. Proposed Posio wind farm in Northern Finland - good to see the Finns warming up to the idea of wind energy;

6. 500 MW solar PV project in Namibia - great that Southern Africa is capitalizing on their vast solar PV potential. I've spent time in Namibia and it's a small but progressive, well-managed and beautiful country;

7. Any wind project in China - the Chinese typically do not rely on expertise from outside China and they have built and commissioned an absolutely astounding 41 800 MW of wind. To put this into perspective, the jurisdiction of Saskatchewan generates a total of about 2 600 MW from all sources (mostly coal and gas);

8. Goteborg Energi and GE 4 MW offshore wind turbine in Gothenburg harbour in Sweden - this will make a fabulous city, even better;

9. Stadtwerke München's projects aimed at generating 100% of all energy from their own renewable generation facilities sufficient to power the entire city of Munich;

10. Finavera's wind projects in the Peace River region of British Columbia - kudos to Finavera for bringing First Nations into their wind projects as real partners.

Happy holidays and all the best for 2012 - it is sure to be another big year for renewable energy!