99 MW Cape Scott Wind project begins commercial operation

GDF SUEZ Canada Inc. has announced the 99 MW Cape Scott wind power project on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, entered commercial operation under a 20-year power purchase agreement with BC Hydro. Located about 40 kilometers west of Port Hardy within the traditional territories of the Kwakiutl, Quatsino, and Tlatlasikwala First Nations and outside of Cape Scott Provincial Park, the CDN $325 million wind project has the capacity to generate over 290 gigawatt-hours of clean, renewable energy annually, enough to meet the electricity needs of approximately 100,000 British Columbians. The Cape Scott project created more than 300 construction jobs during peak construction and 12 permanent operating and maintenance positions. Since the start of construction in the summer of 2011, the project infused more than $51 million into the local economy. With the addition of the Cape Scott Wind Project, GDF SUEZ Canada and partners Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Fiera Axium Infrastructure currently operate 660 MW of wind-powered generation facilities in the Canadian Maritimes, Ontario, and British Columbia and have a growing solar portfolio. Cape Scott is the joint venture's tenth wind installation in Canada. GDF SUEZ Canada's President Mike Crawley, remarked, "The Cape Scott Wind Project represents a significant engineering feat and strengthens our position as one of the leading renewable energy generators in Canada.  We're proud to continue demonstrating our commitment to environmentally sound power generation within a province that shares this priority." Named "Project of the Year" by Clean Energy British Columbia in late 2013, the Cape Scott wind site features 55 Vestas V100 turbines each with 1.8MW of capacity. 3 Nations Construction Ltd., a joint venture created by the Kwakiutl, Quatsino, and Tlatlasikwala First Nations, and Lemare Group, constructed a large part of the project's roads and earthworks. By PennEnergy Editorial Staff Source: GDF SUEZ