An international consortium led by subsidiaries of EDF and the RES Group has won a contract to construct five utility-scale wind farms in Canada’s Quebec province. The projects will have a combined total capacity of 954 MW and their output will be sold to Hydro Québec Distribution.
The St-Laurent Énergies consortium, which is composed of EDF Energies Nouvelles, Renewable Energy Systems Americas and Hydromega Services Inc., won the right to build the projects in a tender process held by utility Hydro Québec.
The Hydro Québec tender was the largest of its kind ever held. The utility accepted 15 bids for a total of 2004 MW of wind energy development, with the St-Laurent Énergies consortium winning the largest share.
The St-Laurent Énergies consortium will develop five wind farms, the largest of which will be the 350 MW Charlevoix et Le Fjord-du-Saguenay, Rivière-du-Moulin wind farm and the 300 MW La Matapédia et La Mitis, Lac-Alfred wind farm. The projected in-service dates for the projects range from late 2011 to late 2015.
The five projects will use Repower 2 MW wind turbines and represent a total investment of over US$2 billion.
Other companies to place winning bids in the tender include Kruger Énergie, Venterre, Invenergy Wind Canada and Enerfin Sociedad de Energia. The average price offered by the winning bids was 10.5 Canadian cents/kWh, according to Hydro Québec.
“We’re very satisfied with the outcome,” said Thierry Vandal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hydro Québec. “It ensures a supply of renewable energy at a highly competitive cost for wind power.”
The projects will require capital outlays estimated at C$5.5 billion, including C$1.1 billion for transmission infrastructure.
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