What's my beef?

So I saw this picture recently of a neat fence that people can write their own little comments on. I clicked in and saw one comment in particular that made me immediately think up some questions; here it is:

Figure 1
what's my beef?

So basically the way I see it, this particular section of fence says three things:

1. Saskatchewan gets their electricity from coal.
2. Saskatchewan is the windiest place in the world.
3. Saskatchewan is the sunniest place in the world.

So, assessing these statements one-by-one, we start at:

1. Saskatchewan gets their power from coal

Before I begin, this point is vague and would most likely to be interpreted as "Saskatchewan gets all of their electricity from burning coal." The next most likely interpretation would be "Saskatchewan gets most of their electricity from burning coal."
This is the statement that really got me to write this article. Last year I learned some information that surprised me; I had been quite naïve on the Saskatchewan power generation scene, when it surprised me to learn that Saskatchewan actually operates a few hydroelectric dams. This MW (million watt) figure wasn't some insignificant figure, either. There is a table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SaskPower#Generating_Facilities that shows the raw data; however, everyone (including me) likes graphs, so I made one:

Figure 2
Breakdown of power generation sources in Saskatchewan by SaskPower

So, over 25% of the power in Saskatchewan is being generated by renewable resources. Note that less than half of the power is currently being generated by coal; a figure that surprised me. I am not arguing that coal or natural gas are "good" sources of power generation. It is my opinion that coal and natural gas are bad; however, natural gas is potentially less damaging to the environment due to its high hydrogen-to-carbon ratio (via its short-chain hydrocarbons).

Since coal is not the only method Saskatchewan uses to generate power, Saskatchewan does not get all their electricity from coal. Even being lenient, coal is the most substantial single source of electricity in Saskatchewan, but it is not the majority source. This being said, it would probably be more correct to write "Saskatchewan generates a large portion of electricity from the burning of coal;" though, it should be noted that this is quite less effective as a fence slogan.

2. Saskatchewan is the windiest place in the world

Typically, land-locked regions are not great locations for wind generation. Good areas for wind generation are typically found on water-front regions; a power generation study that hints at this is hosted at http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/winds/global_winds.html . The main picture from the mentioned site being:

Figure 3
Power generation study's wind velocities at 80m

Note that this is not saying wind power is non-feasible in Saskatchewan, it's to say that it is more feasible in other locations. Also note that this picture does not serve as definitive proof, but rather a relative comparison. Since there are places that are windier on average than Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan is not the windiest place in the world.

3. Saskatchewan is the sunniest place in the world

There are more factors involved in solar power generation than clear skies. In the most simple terms, the more North/South you are from the equator the less sun power ( insolation) you generally have.
A large culprit is the pesky fact that the winter months are horribly dark compared to our (still non-energetic) summer days. This insolation data is readily available now on the internet due to the solar power boom. Several companies or groups have measured average year-round insolation and put this data onto geographic maps. The end result is an map that shows average power-per-square-metre rating used to quantify the effectiveness of a solar panel in that region. The result? To show the comparison, I sniped a picture from the lovely folks at http://www.solardirect.com/pv/consumer-ready/solio/solar-intensity-maps.html :

Figure 4
Average insolation figures from a solar-power equipment selling company

Note that Saskatchewan gets roughly half of the solar energy of the sunniest areas of the United States. So, based on average annual insolation (average solar power per year), Saskatchewan is not the sunniest place in the world.

Side note
On a side note, Germany makes use of a lot of solar power, and a map of their country based on insolation is as follows:


This picture is "sniped" from http://www.makesolarwork.com/solaruse.aspx . Note in the map of Germany, the darker regions correspond to regions with less insolation; most of the country receives between 3 and 3.5 kWh/m2/day, whereas Canada receives approximately 2.4 kWh/m2/day. This means 2 panels of some standard size would generate the equivalent to about 3 panels in Canada. This might not seem like much, but it turns 10 panels to 15 panels, and the resulting extra panels may have extra environmental impact and associated cost.

So the moral of this story is don't believe everything you read on a fence; unless it's properly cited.