December 3, 2008

Electricity Generation

Manitoba joins forces with Babcock & Brown to build Canada’s largest wind farm

Richard Gilbert

staff writer

The government of Manitoba is entering a partnership to build Canada’s largest wind farm.

Manitoba Hydro announced recently that it accepted a Request for Proposal from St. Joseph Wind Farm Inc., which is owned by Babcock & Brown Canada ULC, to develop a 300 megawatt wind farm. It will be located at St. Joseph near Letellier in southern Manitoba.

“This new wind farm underlines Manitoba’s position as a leader in clean energy and will bring economic and environmental benefits to the local municipalities, Manitoba and the region,” said Premier Gary Doer.

“The St. Joseph wind farm represents another important step in diversifying Manitoba’s energy resources.”

Manitoba Hydro put out a request for proposals in 2007 and received about 84 proposals throughout the tender process.

The St. Joseph proposal was the best response and brings the province one step closer to achieving its goal of developing 1,000 MW of wind power.

The project, which is worth more than $ 800 million, will generate electricity from 130 turbines.

The project is subject to regulatory approvals and execution of a power purchase agreement with construction expected to start in 2009 and power deliveries starting as early as 2011.

The exact schedule will depend upon the availability of materials and equipment for the wind turbines and related transmission facilities.

Once completed, the project will result in $300 million in operational expenditures, $70 million in local landholder payments and $198 million in provincial and municipal revenues over the life of the project.

Environmental benefits include displacing 800,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of taking 145,000 cars off the road.

Manitoba Hydro will purchase wind-generated power as part of a proposed 25-year agreement with Babcock & Brown’s North American Energy Group, which has interests in more than 20 wind farms across North America with an aggregate value in excess of $3 billion.

The group has worked closely on this project with local residents and Calgary-based wind developer BowArk Energy.

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