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February 2015

Minnesota Power completes fourth phase of Bison project

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Minnesota Power completes fourth phase of Bison project

Minnesota Power has completed commissioning on the latest phase of its Bison Wind Energy Center. The 205-MW expansion makes it the largest wind farm in North Dakota and ranks Minnesota Power as one of America’s top-10 wind power-owning electric utilities.

All 64 turbines within the 35-square-mile boundaries of Bison 4 are now generating renewable energy, which is delivered to the company’s customers via a 465-mile direct current transmission line linking Center, N.D., and Duluth, Minn. In total, the nearly 500 megawatts produced by Bison’s 165 turbines rank it as North Dakota’s largest wind farm in terms of electric generating capacity.

“We’ve made significant strides over the last eight years to bring our energy generation into better balance,” said ALLETE Chairman, President and CEO Al Hodnik. “Development of renewable energy from wind and water is rapidly transforming our nation’s energy landscape and with the addition of nearly 500 megawatts of wind from the Bison development on our system, we are providing cleaner energy while maintaining the affordability and reliability of electric power our customers in northeastern Minnesota expect.”

Bison 4 is part of the company’s strategic EnergyForward plan for diversifying its energy supply while cutting carbon, adding renewables and reducing emissions at power plants.

Hodnik credited Minnesota Power Chief Operating Officer Brad Oachs and his team for completing the entire Bison project in a timely and cost-effective manner.

“With this substantial addition of wind to our portfolio, we are meeting Minnesota’s renewable standard of 25 percent renewable energy by 2025, a decade early,” Oachs said. “That’s a tremendous accomplishment by our employees. It reflects our commitment to cleaner energy and the execution of our EnergyForward plan to a more diversified energy mix of one-third renewable, one-third coal and one-third natural gas.”

On September 25, 2013, the North Dakota Public Service approved the Bison 4 site permit allowing construction to commence. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved on Jan. 17, 2014, Minnesota Power’s petition seeking cost recovery from customers for Bison 4 investments. The total project investment for Bison 4 is estimated at $345 million.

Bison 4 uses larger, more powerful Siemens wind turbine generators than those installed in earlier phases of the project. Because the generators are more powerful, it takes only 64 turbines to produce about the same amount of cost effective electricity produced by the 70 turbines installed for Bison 2 and 3.

Wind tower sections in Bison 4 were manufactured in Manitowoc, Wis., using steel produced from Minnesota taconite. With a portion of the generator units now manufactured at a Siemens plant in Hutchinson, Kan., and the turbine blades fabricated in Fort Madison, Iowa, Bison 4 incorporates more American-made components than the earlier Bison phases.

Minnesota Power was ranked eighth among all U.S. electric utilities for ownership of wind power capacity, according to statistics from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) compiled at the end of 2013. With the additional 205-MW capacity of Bison 4, the Duluth-based utility could soon be ranked among the nation’s top five wind power owners.

A strong partnership with Bison 4 project landowners was forged as more than 70 wind and transmission easements were developed and executed ahead of construction activities. Construction of Bison 4, which began in the fall of 2013, included about 14 miles of new roads, upgrades to about 11 miles of existing roads and installation of about 55 miles of collector cable in addition to the turbine erection that began early last summer. A new electric substation was built to serve the western side of Bison 4 and an existing substation was expanded. The project also includes a new meteorological tower and 11 miles of new 230-kilovolt transmission line.

Minnesota Power’s first wind farm, the 25-MW Taconite Ridge, in Mountain Iron, Minn., was constructed on the property of its largest customer, U.S. Steel, going online in June of 2008. The first three phases of Bison were built in 2010-12. Minnesota Power also buys all the output of a 98-megawatt wind farm adjacent to the Bison site in Oliver County, N.D., which was built in 2006-07 by NextEra Energy.  
 

PGE’s ‘smart’ gas plant helps balance wind, solar

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PGE’s ‘smart’ gas plant helps balance wind, solar

Portland General Electric Company recently announced that its Port Westward Unit 2 plant, a 220-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant located near Clatskanie, Ore., went into service on Dec. 30, 2014 and is now available to generate electricity for PGE customers. The new plant is a highly efficient facility designed for maximum flexibility to help meet real-time fluctuations in customer demand and integrate renewable resources.

“With the growing amount of variable renewable power coming online, this type of flexible resource is essential in helping us continue to provide reliable service to our customers in an increasingly complex environment,” said Jim Piro, PGE’s president and CEO.

The plant is comprised of 12 reciprocating engines supplied by Wärtsilä North America that are designed to be highly efficient, flexible and responsive. The 25,000-horsepower 50SG engines are the first of their size in the country to run entirely on natural gas.

“Port Westward Unit 2’s advanced technology and unique configuration allows PGE to ramp up the plant to full load in less than 10 minutes,” said Rick Tetzloff, PGE’s project manager for Port Westward Unit 2. “This flexibility allows us to adjust quickly when renewable energy — like wind and solar — rise and fall with natural variability. And it also means that on peak demand days, our customers benefit from increased reliability.”

Port Westward Unit 2 serves as an important component of the company’s diversified portfolio of energy resources, complementing the new 267-megawatt Tucannon River Wind Farm brought online on Dec. 15, 2014.

Fast-reacting capacity is needed to balance sudden fluctuations in the renewable energy supply in real-time. Wärtsilä’s power plants have an extensive track record of such operation in Kansas, Colorado and Texas. Smart Power Generation technology helps utilities reach their targets for renewable energy. Agile generation not only supports, but enables more wind and solar power.

The new plant is adjacent to PGE’s existing natural gas-fired Port Westward and Beaver plants in Columbia County, Ore. Construction, which began in May 2013, created more than 400 jobs. The plant was completed ahead of schedule and on budget under fixed-price contracts, with final construction costs expected to be approximately $300 million, excluding AFDC.

PGE’s latest large-scale wind project went online in Washington State in December. The Tucannon River Wind farm consists of 116 wind turbines with capacity of 267 megawatts. The new wind farm helped PGE meet the 2015 goal for Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which calls for PGE to supply 15 percent of the electricity used by its customers from qualified renewable resources by 2015 and 25 percent by 2025.

Completion of Port Westward Unit 2 is a significant milestone in the implementation of PGE’s 2009 Integrated Resource Plan. The plan was acknowledged by the Oregon Public Utility Commission in November 2010. Port Westward Unit 2 was PGE’s benchmark proposal in a competitive bidding process conducted pursuant to guidelines established by the Oregon Public Utility Commission, using objective scoring criteria intended to identify projects that provide the best balance of cost and risk while meeting PGE customers’ needs for reliable, affordable electric power.  

 — Source: Portland General Electric; Wärtsilä Corporation
 

DOE seeks to improve wind forecasting in complex terrain

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DOE seeks to improve wind forecasting in complex terrain

The Energy Department recently announced $2.5 million for a new project to research the atmospheric processes that generate wind in mountain-valley regions.

This in-depth research, will be conducted by Vaisala, a global environmental and industrial measurement company, from its Seattle, Washington and Boulder, Colorado offices, and will be used to improve the wind industry’s weather models for short-term wind forecasts, especially for those issued less than 15 hours in advance. With access to better forecasts, wind energy plant operators and industry professionals can ensure wind turbines operate closer to maximum capacity, leading to lower energy costs for consumers.

The Wind Forecasting Improvement Project 2 (WFIP2) is a DOE initiative targeted at enhancing the reliability of wind forecasting around the world, but specifically in challenging areas. By doing so it seeks to reduce the cost of grid integration and help operators optimize performance through more effective short-term modeling of wind variability.

As part of this project, Vaisala and its partners have been tasked with conducting a comprehensive three-phase study of atmospheric phenomena in complex terrain, with the end goal of enhancing the widely used Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Rapid Refresh (RAP) and High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) models.

“Complex terrain creates substantial forecast challenges for wind plants in most regions,” said Jack Peterson, Manager of Energy Operations Support at Southern California Edison. “We have seen many situations where the forecasts are dramatically different at neighboring wind farms with only slight elevation changes. Improving the science behind forecasts is an important step and will greatly benefit the industry by removing some of the challenges we face.”

Peterson will play a supporting role to the study team steered by Vaisala and comprising of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of Colorado Boulder, Sharply Focused, Lockheed Martin, Texas Tech University, the University of Notre Dame, Iberdrola Renewables, Southern California Edison, Cowlitz County Public Utility District, Eurus Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, and Portland General Electric.

The project will focus on the rugged Columbia River Gorge region between the states of Washington and Oregon — an area specifically selected because it experiences nearly all of the identified atmospheric phenomena known to impact wind energy. The efforts of Vaisala’s team will be strengthened through significant collaboration with NOAA and DOE national laboratories.

Following a design and planning phase, the WFIP2 team will deploy extensive measurement equipment for an 18-month period, starting in mid-2015, to first analyze the specific environmental characteristics affecting wind flow patterns, ranging from soil moisture and surface temperatures to the unique topographical features of mountain-valley regions. These observations will then be used to update and improve the computational and atmospheric physics that underpin current forecasting models. Enhanced model predictions produced during the third phase of the project will then be compared with baseline forecasts produced by existing models to evaluate the success of the initiative.

Due to the complexity of terrain in mountain-valley regions and varying degrees of soil moisture and surface temperatures, predicting specific wind conditions presents a major challenge to utility operators looking to optimize the performance of wind turbines in these areas.

This funding will allow Vaisala and its partners to use advanced meteorological equipment to analyze specific environmental characteristics that affect wind flow patterns in the Columbia River Gorge region of Washington and Oregon.

— Source: U.S. Department of Energy; Vaisala

Global policy woes dampen wind supply chain

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Global policy woes dampen wind supply chain

FTI Consulting, Inc., a global business advisory firm recently released FTI Intelligence’s latest renewable energy publication, “Global Wind Supply Chain Update 2015. “This report is part of a series of data-driven publications evaluating competitive markets, policy, finance, technology and business models across the energy spectrum.

The report examines the supply chain situation for 12 key components (350-plus suppliers) and three key materials (150-plus suppliers), which account for more than 95 percent of a wind turbine’s total cost. In addition to the specific components and materials, it also includes an assessment of offshore wind farm balance of plants, a summary of supply chain strategies for the world’s top 15 turbine OEMs and FTI-CL Energy experts’ demand forecast for global wind market growth through 2018. The report is authored by members of the FTI-CL Energy practice, a cross-practice team of energy experts from both FTI Consulting and its subsidiary, Compass Lexecon.

The key findings of the report include:
• More than 120 suppliers have collapsed or stayed out of the wind business in the past two years, including 88 from Asia, 23 from Europe and 18 from North America.
• A prolonged market contraction has forced major turbine OEMs to divest in-house non-core production assets and opt for extensive outsourcing in order to insulate from market fluctuations while remaining profitable.
• Most key components and materials are still facing overcapacity, but the regional distribution for key materials such as rare earth elements and forgings is extremely uneven and bottlenecks are expected on ultra-large tapered roller bearings (“TRB”) as these have gained popularity in China with almost all direct drive designs.
• Competition is now taking place not only on product quality and price, but also requires suppliers to provide value-added products and services to assist turbine OEMs and the end users to bring down the LCOE in order to compete with conventional energy sources.
• The uncertainty around the PTC leads FTI-CL Energy’s experts to conclude that the industry setback is most likely to retain in the U.S., and more Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers are likely to disappear in the next two to three years due to the expected collapse of Tier 3 turbine OEMs in China.
• There is a delicate balance in the offshore wind supply chain at present, but challenges remain in the medium-term. One third of the cost reduction of offshore wind energy partially relies on supply chain industrialization for disruptive technologies and key elements including the offshore wind balance of plant. This ambitious target is, however, unlikely to be achieved without long-term market stability.
• The O&M market provides relatively clear market visibility going forward and many key components suppliers are entering into this segment, so heightened competition is expected.

“The wind industry has been in the process of transformation since 2011 and the global wind supply chain is not matured yet,” explained Feng Zhao, Director at FTI Consulting and Head of Wind Energy within the FTI-CL Energy practice. “The exit/non-participation of so many suppliers delivers a dangerous signal to governments. To bring wind towards a position where it can compete head-to-head with conventional energy sources, it is imperative to find a balance between maintaining attractive and certain policy and reducing the burden on governments and consumers caused by paying renewable energy subsidy.”

“The challenging economic and political climate has forced large wind turbine vendors to shed low value assets and to opt for outsourcing” says Aris Karcanias, Managing Director at FTI Consulting and Co-Lead of the Company’s FTI-CL Clean Tech practice in Europe. “Large turbine OEMs have adopted lean organization models from other industries to deal with market instability and increase flexibility and capacity utilization.”

The report is authored by members of the FTI-CL Energy practice. The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its other professionals, its management or its subsidiaries and affiliates. To purchase the Global Wind Supply Chain Update 2015 report in its entirety, visit the website at www.fti-intelligence.com or contact Feng Zhao at feng.zhao@fticonsulting.com or Aris Karcanias at aris.karcanias@fticonsulting.com.

Illustrations and Further Information
One graphic illustration is attached and may be used with full accreditation to FTI Consulting, Global Wind Supply Chain Update 2015, January 2015. Copies of the Table of Contents, Executive Summary and a list of bullet points noting the report’s chief findings are available upon request to accredited journalists, at our discretion.

About FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 4,200 employees located in 26 countries, FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management, strategic communications and restructuring. The Company generated $1.65 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2013. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.

— Source: FTI Consulting  

Brooklyn home to Big Apple’s first commercial wind turbine

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Brooklyn home to Big Apple’s first commercial wind turbine

New York City’s first commercial-scale wind turbine was officially unveiled in January. The turbine, which is far and away the city’s largest, was erected on the Brooklyn waterfront at the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility (MRF) on the 30th Street Pier, where it now stands as an addition to the borough’s skyline.

Sims Metal Management (Sims) and its Sims Municipal Recycling (SMR) division were joined by local officials, community leaders and members of the environmental community to welcome the wind turbine at a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony on January 14 at the MRF. After several weeks of testing, the turbine is fully operational, harnessing wind energy to help power the recycling processes at the facility.

The largest of its kind in the nation, the SMR Sunset Park MRF serves as the principal sorting and separation center for New York City’s residential curbside metal, glass and plastic recyclables. A central element of PlaNYC 2030 for a “greener, greater New York,” the recycling facility is part of a long-term contract between SMR and the New York City Department of Sanitation. The contract, which includes additional SMR facilities in the area, ensures sustainable and cost-effective recyclables management for New York City for up to 40 years.

The permitting process for the state-of-the-art wind turbine began four years ago. The 120-foot tower (nearly 160 feet including the blades) was installed last fall. The pier’s naturally windy location is an ideal spot for the turbine, which overlooks the MRF and its Recycling Education Center. The capital cost was approximately $750,000, and the turbine will pay for itself in about five years, depending on wind and electricity costs. The turbine, made by Vermont-based Northern Power Systems, is expected to generate up to 4 percent of the energy required to run the MRF, or the equivalent of powering the site’s Administrative Building and Education Center. Combined with the photovoltaic (solar power) installation on the roof of the “tipping” building, where trucks and barges deliver material to be sorted and processed, up to 20 percent of the MRF’s energy will be generated on site from renewable sources.

“Sims is incredibly proud of the innovative practices implemented at the Sunset Park MRF — and the new wind turbine is certainly a part of that,” said Galdino Claro, CEO and Managing Director of Sims Metal Management. “We are the world’s largest publicly listed metals and electronics recycler, and through our activities at hundreds of locations around the globe we are committed to being both a local and global leader in sustainability.”

Modern wind turbines for energy production have been slow to come to NYC. Some small turbines have been mounted on rooftops of residential high-rises, while other notable examples of residential-scale turbines include those at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Gowanus Whole Foods. (Residential-scale turbines range up to 25kW; commercial-scale turbines range between 25kW and 500kW; and industrial-scale turbines, normally used in wind farms, range between 500kW and 3,000kW.)

“As a recycling company, sustainability is central to our mission, and in Brooklyn, we saw the opportunity to advance that agenda in new ways,” said Tom Outerbridge, General Manager of Sims Municipal Recycling. “The wind turbine, combined with the solar array, enables the facility to decrease its non-renewable energy consumption substantially.”

“Northern Power Systems would like to congratulate the entire Sims team for reaching this impressive energy sustainability milestone, paying dividends forward for decades,” said Trevor Atkinson, Sales and Business Development Manager at Northern Power Systems. “We are delighted to have this new installation join our growing global fleet.”

The 11-acre facility is located in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. The facility, designed by Selldorf Architects, was built to optimize environmental performance and opened in December 2013. The facility won the 2009 Award for Excellence in Design from the NYC Public Design Commission. The Recycling Education Center is open for school groups as well as tours for other organizations and visitors.

—  Source: Sims Metal Management

Tennessee board approves Plains and Eastern Clean Line

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Tennessee board approves Plains and Eastern Clean Line

Plains and Eastern Clean Line LLC, a subsidiary of Clean Line Energy Partners LLC (Clean Line) of Houston, Texas, received a major regulatory approval in the State of Tennessee. The Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) unanimously voted to approve the application of Plains and Eastern for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and to grant Plains and Eastern the authority to operate as a wholesale transmission-only public utility in Tennessee.

The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is an approximately 700-mile overhead, direct current electric transmission project that will deliver wind energy from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to utilities and customers in Tennessee, Arkansas, and other markets in the Mid-South and Southeast. The project will provide affordable, renewable energy to more than one million homes annually, create construction jobs in Tennessee, and help reduce air pollution.

Clean Line Energy President, Michael Skelly, said, “We appreciate the TRA’s review of our application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. We are happy to take another step forward in the development of this important infrastructure project and believe there is an essential role that affordable renewable energy can and should play in the energy mix for Tennessee and the greater Southeast.”

There is a need to connect the supply of thousands of megawatts of new wind energy in the Oklahoma Panhandle with the increasing demand of utilities in the Mid-South and Southeast. From May through July of 2014, Clean Line conducted an open solicitation for transmission capacity on the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. Fifteen potential customers submitted more than 17,000 megawatts of requests for transmission service, more than four times the capacity of the line. Clean Line received a Letter of Interest from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) stating that the Plains & Eastern Clean Line transmission project presents a valuable option for TVA to provide affordable clean energy. TVA has completed several key technical studies for interconnection of the project and is continuing detailed engineering work to ensure the safe and reliable interconnection with the TVA transmission system.

“Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry and its manufacturing division the Tennessee Manufacturers Association applauds this decision by the TRA on behalf of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line,” said Catherine Glover, President of Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry. “We believe this is a strong example of Tennessee moving forward as a clean energy leader, attracting new business investment and spurring job creation.”

In resolutions passed unanimously, both Shelby County (TN) and the City of Memphis expressed support for the development, construction and operation of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. They cited the investment in western Tennessee and the potential to create a renewable energy hub in the Greater Memphis area as part of their reasoning.

“This is great news for the economic climate in Tennessee. Not only will low-cost, renewable energy benefit current business and residential utility customers, it will send another strong message of why potential companies should relocate to our state,” said Al Bright, Jr., EDGE (Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County) Chairman. “It’s going to help bring jobs to Tennessee.”

The Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the Southwestern Power Administration, is leading an extensive environmental review of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In December 2014, DOE issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. The release of the Draft EIS initiated a 90-day public comment period that is scheduled to conclude in March 2015. DOE will host 15 public meetings in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas during January and February of 2015. Based on the current schedule, Clean Line anticipates that DOE would issue a Final EIS later in 2015, which will consider and respond to comments received regarding the Draft EIS. Construction is estimated to begin in 2016 and will require approximately two to three years to complete. The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is expected to begin delivering electricity as early as 2018.

Skelly continued, “We are pleased to locate the converter station in Shelby County to deliver to the TVA transmission system, and deliver enough clean energy to reliably supply over one million homes per year. We are encouraged by the support that Shelby County, the City of Memphis, and the City of Millington, as well as their affiliated development organizations, have shown for our investment in western Tennessee. The Plains & Eastern Clean Line will be an important economic contributor to the western Tennessee region and will help Memphis maintain its leadership as ‘North America’s Distribution Center’ for years to come.”
For more information about the Plains & Eastern Clean Line, please visit www.plainsandeasterncleanline.com.  

— Source: Clean Line Energy Partners

Samsung and Pattern Energy inaugurate Ontario project

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Samsung and Pattern Energy inaugurate Ontario project

Ontario’s newest wind facility is now up and running. Samsung Renewable Energy, Inc. (Samsung) and Pattern Energy Group Inc. recently announced that the Grand Renewable Wind project has completed construction and reached commercial operation. The 149 MW Grand Renewable Wind facility has the capacity to produce clean power for approximately 50,000 Ontario homes each year.

“Wind provides clean, emission-free electricity for Ontarians while creating thousands of jobs and economic opportunities,” said Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Energy. “Collaborative projects like this one will help wind reach 15 percent of the province’s installed capacity by 2025.”

“The Six Nations Elected Council is committed to ensuring we enter into sustainable development projects that not only enrich our economy but are also socially and environmentally responsible,” said Chief Ava Hill, Six Nations Elected Council. “Both Samsung and Pattern Energy committed to developing an equity partnership with Six Nations, the way they approached the partnership with Six Nations set the bar on how we want to work with businesses to enable us to generate resources for our future generations.”

“Samsung is proud to be part of the Haldimand community and excited about our historic equity agreement with Six Nations Elected Council,” said Mr. Steve Cho, Vice President, Samsung C&T. “The Grand Renewable Wind facility along with our other projects in the Province are creating thousands of high-skilled jobs that will benefit real people in this community and across Ontario.”

“We are honored to be able to further expand our presence in Ontario through this partnership with the Six Nations,” said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy. “The commissioning of the Grand Renewable Wind facility by the end of 2014 brings our number of Ontario facilities to two in operation, two in construction and two in late stage development, totaling 1,269 megawatts to be installed in the province by 2018. We would like to thank the Six Nations and the community of Haldimand for their support.”

“We’re proud to bring our proven technology to the Grand Renewable Wind project and to continue to provide Ontario with jobs, economic growth and affordable and sustainable wind energy,” said Jacob Andersen, Head of Wind Power Renewables, Siemens Canada Limited.

Grand Renewable Wind utilizes 67 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines with blades and towers that were made in Ontario. Siemens’ turbine blade facility in Tillsonburg manufactured the blades for the project and CS Wind’s facility in Windsor used Ontario-made steel to manufacture the turbine towers.

 The Grand Renewable Wind facility had more than 500 workers on site during peak construction and created 12 full-time permanent positions for ongoing operations and maintenance. Over 98 percent of the workforce was comprised of workers from Ontario, which were involved in every aspect of the project – from manufacture and assembly of the wind turbine components to site construction, installation work and project operations. Altogether, Samsung and Pattern Energy’s wind power projects in Ontario are creating thousands of manufacturing and construction jobs, contributing significant property taxes in host communities, and providing millions of dollars for schools and important community projects.

In a historic first for Ontario, Samsung and Pattern Energy have entered into an equity partnership with Six Nations of the Grand River. The Six Nations community owns 10% of the Grand Renewable Wind project. Samsung and Pattern Energy also provided a $400,000 donation to the Grand River Post-Secondary Education Office, which will increase opportunities for Six Nations students.

Acting on their commitment to make a positive impact in their project communities, Samsung and Pattern Energy have introduced the more than $15 million Community Vibrancy Fund for Haldimand County. The fund will support local community, environment, health and wellness initiatives. The fund will provide a stable source of support over the next 20 years.

The electricity from Grand Renewable Wind, which is helping Ontario reach its clean energy goals, is committed to the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

— Source: Pattern Energy
 

Canada installed 1.8 GW of wind capacity in 2014

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Canada installed 1.8 GW of wind capacity in 2014

For the second consecutive year, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) is pleased to announce that Canada has set a record for the installation of new wind energy capacity. A total of 1,871 MW of wind energy capacity was installed in five provinces in Canada in 2014, with most growth centred in Ontario (999 MW), Quebec (460 MW) and Alberta (350 MW). Canada ended 2014 with nearly 9,700 MW of installed wind energy capacity, producing enough electricity to meet the needs of over 3 million average Canadian homes every year.

“Canada’s 37 new wind energy projects in 2014 represent over $3.5 billion in investment,” said CanWEA president Robert Hornung. “Wind energy has now brought economic growth and diversification to more than 100 rural communities across Canada through land lease income, tax payments and community benefits agreements. Of the 37 new wind energy projects installed in 2014, 15 projects also include significant ownership stakes from First Nations, Municipal Corporations or local farmers.”

2014 also produced more evidence of the cost-competitiveness of wind energy, as the year ended with Quebec awarding contracts for 446 MW of new wind energy projects that will provide power at an average cost of 6.3 cents/ kWh. While every market is unique, it is clear that wind energy can compete on cost with virtually all forms of new electricity generation, including nuclear, hydroelectric, and coal-fired power.

“Wind energy has demonstrated that it is a proven, reliable and cost-competitive energy solution that drives economic diversification, environmental sustainability and rate-base value,” Hornung said. “These attributes will continue to drive wind energy growth in 2015, where we expect a minimum of another 1,500 MW of new wind energy capacity to come on line.  This coming year  will also see new wind energy contracts awarded in Ontario, a new Energy Strategy in Quebec, and a new climate change framework in Alberta that may open the door to accelerated wind energy development in that province.”

The Canadian market was split between seven wind turbine manufacturers in 2014, however, over 98 percent of new wind capacity came from five manufacturers. Installations were led by Siemens, followed by GE, Vestas, ENERCON and Senvion. Siemens and GE supplied over 50 per cent of wind turbines in 2014.  

— Source: CanWEA

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