Ventus announces 1,000 megawatt wind project
Toronto-based wind developer Ventus Energy Inc., along with partner Metis Energy Corp., announced plans today to build a $2.5 billion wind farm in Labrador. The joint venture, called Labrador Ventus Ltd. Partnership, is being dubbed the largest wind farm project in Canada with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts — that is, 1,000 megawatts when the wind is blowing all turbines at ideal speed. The generation facility will be called “Height of Land Wind Park” and will be built over three years beginning in 2007, assuming all regulatory hurdles are overcome. Public consultations on the project begin next month.
“This private-sector solution to energy development will not require any provincial or federal grants or loans in order to proceed,” the companies said in a statement. “Negotiations of a power purchase agreement to sell the expected annual production are currently under way with potential customers.”
Is it just me or does $2.5 billion seem rather expensive for a wind farm project, even one of this size?
(FYI: Globe and Mail has more details).
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca
January 17th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
You are right to question the economic viability; a quick calculation shows that at today’s rates for power purchases, this project will realize myabe a 12 to 15% gross return on investment – surely not enough given the risks involved. Is there something fishy going on?
January 18th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Hi Tyler and EE:
Are your calculations accounting for the increased retail cost of turbines in the last while due to high market demand and to the price of oil? I met a sheet-plastics salesman in the summer who said that their product doubled in price due to oil price increases, and a WindShare windpower coop rep here in Toronto said that since turbine blades are mainly oil-based resins -the fiberglass is soaking in it -they too are subject to this oil price factor.
Jp