Greengate Power Corporation, the mastermind of the wind farm project to be based in Halkirk area, has announced that it secured an agreement with a US company to sell all the energy that will be produced by the wind turbines for the next 20 years.
A statement issued by the headquarters of the Calgary-based company said the agreement between Greengate and California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the sale of 450 MW of power annually had already been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.
According to the statement, this is the third biggest wind energy transaction ever executed by a California utility.
Alongside the Halkirk I project, Greengate will generate power at another site, again in Alberta, to provide the energy for the California utility company.
The project called Blackspring Ridge I will produce 300 MW and Halkirk I will generate 150 MW electricity for the deal, according to the statement.
Greengate also said the purchase price for the deal would remain fixed for the duration of the initial contract, which is renewable.
Halkirk I is scheduled for completion in 2012 and the bigger Blackspring wind farm is expected to become operational in 2013.
According to Greengate, once completed, the Blackspring Ridge site will be Canada’s biggest wind power generator.
The two projects combined, will increase Alberta’s current power generation capacity of 806 MW per year by more than 50 per cent.
“Our world-class projects and team, including our advisors in Califonia, made this transaction possible,” said Dan Balaban, President and CEO of Greengate.
“With these 450 MW of contracted projects, we look forward to substantially increasing Alberta’s installed capacity of wind energy generation. “
Greengate is currently developing wind energy projects with a total capacity of 1,550 MW per year on an area of 200,000 acres.