Toronto: Samsung Renewable Energy, Inc. and Pattern Energy Group LP announced March 12 that they had secured financing for the 270 megawatt South Kent Wind facility, allowing the project to move forward into the construction phase. The companies anticipate that there will be an average of 300 workers on-site throughout project construction and approximately 500 workers during peak construction periods.
South Kent Wind will utilize 124 Ontario-made turbines, including towers manufactured at CS Wind’s factory in Windsor and blades manufactured at Siemens’ factory in Tillsonburg. The project is part of Samsung’s planned $7-billion investment in Ontario to build and operate 2,500 MW of wind and solar power, creating what it believes will be the largest renewable energy cluster in the world. Through this investment, Samsung and its partners plan to build four manufacturing facilities in Windsor, Toronto, Tillsonburg and London, creating 900 new manufacturing jobs and 16,000 jobs overall.
Samsung and Pattern are working on three other wind energy projects in Ontario as well. Together, the four projects are slated to create 870 MW of renewable energy for the Ontario Power Authority. The additional three projects are the 150 MW Grand Renewable Energy Park in Haldimand County, the 270 MW K2 Wind project in the Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh and the 180 MW Armow Wind project in the Municipality of Kincardine.
Siemens Canada announced March 18 that it had been awarded the contract to supply and commission turbines as well as blades for the project. The project’s SWT-2.3-101 turbines have a maximum power rating of up to 2.3 megawatts each and a rotor diameter of 101 meters at a hub-height of 99.5 metres.
All blades for the project will be manufactured by Siemens at the company’s wind turbine blade facility in Tillsonburg – the first production facility of its kind in Ontario, Siemens notes. Production and hiring will be ramped up to capacity in order to fulfill the agreement. Towers for the project will be manufactured at CS Wind’s facility in Windsor using Ontario-made steel.