Platts Renewable Energy Report January 10, 2005

Toronto-based SkyPower Corp has signed an agreement with Hydro-Quebec Production to build a C$300 million, 200MW wind project in the Riviere-du-Loup region, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

The initial test phase of the project, set for completion in late 2005 or early 2006, will see construction of the first 9MW of installed capacity. The remaining turbines will be operating by the end of 2006, SkyPower  CEO Kerry Adler said.

The utility’s distribution arm recently selected two developers to build 990MW of wind power in Quebec and plans to release a call for another 1000MW (RER, 70/22), but the SkyPower deal is the result of business discussions with Hydro-Quebec’s production arm, which will buy all the project’s output under a 21-year power contract.

The purchase, said Quebec Natural Resources Minster Sam Hamad, confirmed Quebec’s position as “a North American leader in wind development.”

The Riviere-du-Loup wind farm is SkyPower’s first, but the company also has 19 projects at various stages of development in Canada and two in the United States with a total capacity of about 4700MW.  It hopes to expand that capacity, said Adler, not only by developing its own projects but by establishing joint ventures with others. “We’re in business to do deals,” he said.

Copyright 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc