Toronto: Northland Power Income Fund recently announced that its 127.5 MW Jardin d’Éole wind farm project near Matane, Québec, would commence commercial operations under the terms of its power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec on November 19. The project comprises 85 General Electric 1.5 MW wind turbines.
The Jardin d’Éole project will sell electricity to Hydro-Québec under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement that was awarded to Northland Power Inc. in the 2003 Hydro-Québec Call for Tenders for wind power. The project will also receive a portion of the federal EcoEnergy incentive for wind power for 10 years.
“We are very proud of the whole team that brought in this project 11 days ahead of schedule and well within its $268 million total budget,” said John Brace, President and CEO of the Fund. “And, with over 60 landowners providing land for the turbines and infrastructure, we look forward to a long and close relationship with our community partners in the St-Ulric and St-Léandre area.”
The wind farm was built by Borea Construction ULC, a Québec-based joint venture between Montreal’s Pomerleau Construction and DH Blattner and Sons of Minnesota. The wind turbine towers and nacelles were supplied to General Electric from the Marmen facility in Matane. The nacelle shells were also fabricated in Matane at VCI Composites, and the blades were manufactured for General Electric by LM Glasfibre in their factory in Gaspé. In total, the project represents an investment of over $100 million in the Gaspésie economy and an additional $20 million in the Québec economy outside the Gaspésie, and will provide ongoing employment to 10 local service and operations staff.
The Jardin d’Éole project was developed by Northland Power Inc. and the Income Fund acquired all the rights to the project following the July 2009 merger with NPI. This is the Fund’s second wind farm in Québec, joining the 54 MW Mont Miller project that began operation in 2005 in Murdochville.