Evidence shows that the effects of climate change will be quite serious for Prince Edward Island.

In 2021, WEICan and the University of Prince Edward Island’s Climate Research Laboratory received joint funding from Prince Edward Island’s Climate Challenge Fund to create a Climate Monitoring Facility on the WEICan site.

Marianne Rodgers, WEICan’s Scientific Director, notes, “This Climate Monitoring Facility is important for WEICan’s renewable energy research. Climate change and renewable energy are closely related: Reduction of greenhouse gases requires increased renewable energy on the electrical grid while renewable energy generators depend on weather and climate to produce energy.”

Analysis of data from the Climate Monitoring Facility provides insight into the impact of climate change on renewable energy power production, as well as ice accumulations, major weather events, precipitation, storm surges, and sea level rise.

UPEI’s School of Climate Change and Adaptation professor, Adam Fenech said, “This project provides a state-of-the-art facility for monitoring climate change to research, test, compare, and verify meteorological and environmental measurement systems all co-located at the same facility for calibrations, intercomparisons, and contributions to global monitoring networks.”

Learn more about WEICan’s Climate Monitoring Facility and download data.