There’s been a lot of head scratching since AP ran a story about Canadian Hydro’s purchase of a massive “offshore wind prospect” from Utah-based Wasatch Wind Inc.

According to the story, the Ontario government said Wasatch doesn’t have any water rights related to the reported Lake Erie site. It said Wasatch has filed an application, and that application is still under review. “They’re in the queu but there’s no guarantee,” Donna Cansfield, Ontario’s minister of natural resources told me today. “Because of that, it’s too early to say whether there’s been any transfer of rights with this application or any application, for that matter.”

Canadian Hydro’s press release was pretty clear. “Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the rights to a 4,400 MW offshore wind prospect in Ontario from Wasatch Wind Inc.” So what’s going on? Darryl Warren, a spokesman for Canadian Hydro, put it this way: “Canadian Hydro acquired from Wasatch Wind Inc. a subsidiary called Wasatch Wind Ltd., and that subsidiary has been involved in development of offshore wind projects in Lake Erie for almost two years.” Warren added: “It’s an ongoing process that will eventually lead to a site release. Where it’s at at this point is the ministry has confirmed it received valid applications.”

Saying it will “eventually lead” to a site release isn’t like the minister saying “there’s no guarantee.” And acquiring a subsidiary of a company that’s pursuing offshore wind in Lake Erie isn’t the same as buying the rights to a 4,400 MW offshore wind prospect. Needless to say, I’m sure Canadian Hydro is a bit embarrassed by this sloppy episode, which you wouldn’t expect from a publicly traded company currently the subject of a billion-dollar hostile takeover bid.

Or would you?

Tags: Canadian Hydro, Wasatch

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm and is filed under wind. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.