Canada invested more than $1 billion in wind energy production in 2006, bringing the country's total capacity for the renewable power to 1,341 megawatts, enough to power 406,000 homes.

A record 657 megawatts of wind energy capacity has been installed in the past year, nearly triple the last high of 240 megawatts in 2005, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA).

Wind energy capacity has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year, when there were 684 megawatts in place.

"Wind energy is an emerging Canadian success story and 2006 will be remembered as the year that our country first began to seriously capture the economic and environmental benefits of wind energy deployments," said CanWEA president Robert Hornung in a statement.

Mr. Hornung noted that the wind farms helped create jobs and investment in rural communities, as well as providing municipal tax revenue and helping Canada meet clean-air objectives.

"Canada is on the cusp of a wind energy boom as provincial governments are now targeting to have a minimum of 10,000 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity in place by 2015," said Mr. Hornung.

Earlier today, Brookfield Power announced the completion of Canada's largest wind power station northwest of Sault St. Marie, bringing the total wind energy capacity in Ontario to 413 megawatts.

Ontario is now capable of producing the most wind energy in the country, followed by Alberta at 384 megawatts and Quebec at 212 megawatts.

"Canada is on the cusp of a wind energy boom as provincial governments are now targeting to have a minimum of 10,000 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity in place by 2015," said Mr. Hornung.