RES Canada and Enbridge to Develop Greenwich Wind Power Project in Ontario

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Renewable Energy Systems Canada Incorporated (RES Canada) (Montreal, Quebec), an affiliate of renewable energy developer RES Americas (Broomfield, Colorado), and energy delivery company Enbridge Incorporated (NYSE:ENB) (Calgary, Alberta) have announced the signing of a joint venture agreement under which they will develop and operate the 99-megawatt (MW) Greenwich Wind Energy Project on the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario. Enbridge will have a majority stake in the limited partnership, while RES Canada will construct the power plant. The partnership will invest a total of about $275 million in the project.

RES Canada will construct the Greenwich Wind Energy Project under a fixed-price turnkey, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2011 and will generate enough clean energy to power 33,000 households in Canada. The generated power will be delivered to the Ontario Power Authority (Toronto, Ontario) under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 106,600 tons per year.

The project will be the third fully integrated wind energy project that RES Canada has developed and constructed. The facility will use 43 Siemens 2.3-MW wind turbines. Integrated technology company Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) has signed a five-year, fixed-price maintenance agreement, under which it will provide operations and maintenance services for the wind turbines.

In November 2009, Enbridge and RES Canada joined forces for the first time to develop the 99-MW Talbot Wind Energy Project near Chatham, Ontario. The partnership contract between the two companies was drawn along the same lines as the Greenwich project. The total investment in the project was estimated to be about $285 million. The project is expected to be completed by December this year and will also use 43 Siemens 2.3-MW wind turbines.

RES Americas is a leading player in the renewable energy sector and is involved in every stage of these projects, including development, EPC and operations. Since 1997, when the company began operating in North America, RES Americas has contributed more than 10% of the installed renewable power capacity in the U.S. The company has about 3,836 MW of wind power capacity spread across 33 projects in operation in the U.S. and Canada, and about 410 MW spread across four projects under construction in both countries. The company is also exploring the potential of biomass, solar and energy storage projects, with a greater focus on solar power projects. RES Americas is currently developing both photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) projects.

Other than the 198 MW of wind power capacity in Ontario, RES Canada has stakes and construction contracts in five other large-scale projects in Quebec. The combined 945 MW of projects are being developed by the Saint Laurent Énergies consortium (Montreal), in which RES Canada has a 20% stake. The company recently completed a 4.1-MW pilot project that will test turbines operating in the Quebec climate. The project was implemented jointly with wind turbine technology company REpower Systems AG (ETR:RPW) (Hamburg, Germany). REpower has been contracted to supply 477 wind turbines for the projects in Quebec.

With the completion of the Greenwich project, Enbridge's total green energy portfolio in operation and under construction, will be more than 560 MW, which is enough to power at least 180,000 households. The company's power resources include hybrid fuel cells, solar, wind, and waste-heat recovery. Four of the company's seven green energy facilities are installed in Ontario. According to Patrick D. Daniel, president and chief executive officer of Enbridge, "This project represents a significant step in reaching our goal of generating a kilowatt of renewable energy for every kilowatt our operations consume." In 2009, Enbridge pledged to invest between $1.5 billion and $2 billion up to 2013 to develop solar and wind power projects. This is equivalent to about 18% of its planned capital expenditures for the next four years.

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