Canadian Wind Energy Research

Dear Colleagues,

Canada faces unique challenges in wind energy development, shaped by its vast regional diversity, harsh climate conditions, complex electricity grids, and the need for stronger community engagement. As offshore wind energy gains momentum in Canada, it is essential to acknowledge the distinct challenges it presents and draw on lessons learned from international experience.

While Canada actively builds and operates wind farms, turbine design, and manufacturing largely occur outside the country. Many existing installations are now approaching their end-of-life stage, prompting a critical need to revisit strategies for repowering, refurbishment, and decommissioning. In parallel, the government of Canada’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 has intensified the focus on understanding the transformation of the energy sector. This includes supporting innovation and investment across the entire lifecycle—from early-stage R&D to commercialization and adoption.

With increasing levels of renewable energy integration, wind forecasting, and asset management have become vital for utilities and system operators. Wind farm owners and operators—now with years of operational experience—are seeking smarter, site-specific strategies for managing their assets. These strategies often involve adopting digital tools, learning from global best practices, and reducing risks to both equipment and personnel.

Current priorities include partial and full repowering, advanced end-of-life strategies, and the implementation of intelligent site-wide control systems. Owners are particularly interested in technologies that ease mechanical strain, leverage local expertise, and generate actionable insights from data. There is a growing recognition of the impact environmental and operational conditions have on equipment and a demand for tools that do more than just monitor—tools that enable informed decision-making and continuous improvement.

However, both researchers and operators face significant barriers. For operators, time and budget constraints, coupled with a flood of commercial pitches, complicate the search for practical solutions. Innovations must address not only technical performance but also economic viability, market dynamics, human factors, and regulatory constraints. The innovation pathway remains unclear, costly, and risky.

To overcome these challenges, researchers must be embedded in real-world operations—learning from the field and contributing their expertise in tandem with operators. This collaborative approach is key to advancing the sector in a meaningful and sustainable way.

This Special Issue invites high-quality, current research that addresses Canada’s distinct wind energy priorities. We aim to highlight work that supports innovation, improves operations, and strengthens the Canadian wind energy sector through evidence-based insight and collaboration.

Dr. Marianne Rodgers
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Wind is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Canadian wind energy
• wind energy forecasting
• wind energy grid integration
• cold climate
• offshore wind
• asset management
• aerodynamics