270-megawatt South Kent Wind project planned for Ontario

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chatham-Kent – The Ontario Clean Technology Alliance, a group of 11 regional and municipal partners that aims to attract more wind industry players to the province, is announcing plans for a $600 million, 270-megawatt South Kent Wind joint venture between Pattern Energy Group LP and Samsung Renewable Energy Inc.

If it goes ahead, the $600 million South Kent Wind project would create economic benefits for Ontario, including approximately 300 construction jobs, 20 permanent jobs, an estimated $800,000 of annual tax revenue, and a community benefits program supporting local causes over the life of the project.

The project’s environmental benefits include the production of clean and renewable energy equivalent to the annual needs of 73,000 Ontario homes and offsetting more than 877,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide compared to electricity generated by coal – equal to taking 157,000 cars off the roads each year.

“South Kent Wind is one of four separate wind energy power purchase agreements between Pattern, Samsung and the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) that will ultimately provide 870 megawatts of clean energy to OPA, enough to power more than 300,000 homes every year,” said Stuart McFadden, Manager, Business Development, Municipality of Chatham-Kent.

Subject to final approval from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, construction for the 124-turbine project is set to begin later in 2012, with the wind project fully operational by early 2014.

Ontario is the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a comprehensive, guaranteed pricing structure for renewable electricity generation, which includes on-shore, small and large wind projects. The province is now the largest producer of wind energy among all Canadian provinces, with more than 1,950 megawatts of installed wind power capacity generated by more than 1,000 turbines. By 2018, Ontario expects to install more than 5,600 megawatts of new wind energy capacity, creating 80,000 person years of employment and attracting $16.4 billion in private investment.

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