Combine at dusk

Combine at dusk

Monday, March 29, 2010

Deal struck to build $345M wind farm

CBC News - Manitoba - Deal struck to build $345M wind farm

Construction on the 138-megawatt wind project — the second major one in the province — will begin immediately, Premier Greg Selinger announced Monday.  The project's go-ahead was made possible because of a 27-year power purchase deal between Manitoba Hydro and San Francisco-based Pattern Energy Group.  Pattern will invest $95 million and Manitoba Hydro will loan the company up to $260 million to be repaid over 20 years.

Last September, The Winnipeg Free Press reported on the transfer of the project from Babcock & Brown, a failing Australian investment company, to a new entity called Pattern Energy: Wind farm out of breath.  The paper provided the following information about the project's specifications at the time (note the significant difference in the proposed size of the project):
Canada's biggest wind farm?


Location: Southern Manitoba, between St. Joseph and Letellier

Size: 300 megawatts -- 100 megawatts more than the much-touted Wuskwatim dam

Cost: $800 million, at last count

Turbines: 130 turbines pumping 2.3 megawatts each

Scheduled completion date: 2011

Next biggest wind farm in Canada: Ontario's Wolfe Island farm, near Kingston. It's 197 megawatts

Challenger: Quebec, which has a 300-megawatt wind farm slated to open in 2012 or 2013

Read CBC's original November 2008 story about the project: Canada's largest wind farm to be set up in Southern Manitoba.

No comments:

Post a Comment