ENMAX Corporation and Vision Quest Windelectric Inc. plan to build and operate a 75-megawatt (MW), $100-million wind farm in southern Alberta.
The farm will produce about 235,000 MWH/year of electricity from 114 Vestas wind turbines – enough energy to power more than 32,500 homes annually.
“When this wind farm is fully operational, it will be the largest single wind farm in Canada,” said Fred Gallagher, Vision Quest’s CEO.
“This will help reduce annual emissions by 235,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, and make a significant contribution to the overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The project will also inject a cool $6 million into the local economy, says Gallagher, create dozens of jobs during construction and result in millions more dollars of municipal tax revenue over the life of the project.
The farm will be located eight kilometres south of Fort McLeod at McBride Lake. Vision Quest will operate the facility and ENMAX will purchase the electrical output.
The project is supported by the federal government’s Wind Power Production Incentive (WPPI) program. Senator Joyce Fairbairn, speaking on behalf of Natural Resources Canada, said wind is one of the sources of renewable energy that Canadians will need in the future, which is why the federal government is investing $2.3 million annually over the next 10 years in the project.
The wind farm is scheduled to begin producing electricity by spring of 2003, and be completed by next fall.
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