The offshore wind project Wolfe Island (300 MW) is the largest project to be allocated the FiT. Developed by Windstream Energy, the Wolfe Island wind farm, which now has an energy procurement agreement with the OPA, will be located in deep waters to the west of the island with the same name in an area of almost 200 square-kilometres. Windstream Energy also has several more of its projects, this time on land, on the list of candidates for the following round of awards. According to the company, these projects would have a combined capacity of 745 MW. Windstream is confident that this second round of awards will take place in September.
Meanwhile, the company led by the local electric utility, Enbridge, and involving the British developer, RES, has received a FiT contract for the 99-MW Greenwich Wind project. RES will build the wind farm through a turnkey project, which will comprise 43 2.3-MW wind turbines supplied by the German manufacturer, Siemens. RES estimates that construction will be completed at the end of 2011. A total of Canadian dollars 275 million have been invested in the project.
The Finnish wind developer, WPD, has also announced that it has been awarded FiT contracts by the OPA for five wind farms with a total capacity of 106 MW. “We are happy to be able to win a significant part of the current wind onshore capacities for us with this share of approximately ten percent. Next, we shall commence the next steps in the permit process and start talks with the manufacturers to guarantee a speedy implementation," says Arvid Hesse, WPD’s Project Manager in Canada. Hesse reports that the projects will be completed in 2012 and 2013. 3,319 MW of wind capacity is currently on stream in Canada.
Ontario's FiT Programme is North America's first comprehensive guaranteed pricing structure for renewable electricity production. It offers stable prices under long-term contracts for energy generated from renewable sources. The FiT Programme was enabled by the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 which was passed into law in May 2009. The Ontario Power Authority is responsible for implementing the programme.
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