Largest Canadian Wind Farm Now Providing Power

CALGARY, Alberta -- ENMAX Corporation and Vision Quest Windelectric Inc. announced the McBride Lake facility is now delivering electricity to the Alberta electricity grid.

Construction began in November 2002 at the McBride Lake facility, located eight kilometres south of Fort Macleod. Currently, 32 wind turbines are built, with 22 of these capable of generating electricity, the energy necessary to power about 6600 homes annually.

"With the development of this facility, wind power is becoming an increasingly viable option for residential and commercial customers," said Sean Durfy, president and chief operating officer of ENMAX Energy Corporation.

Vision Quest and ENMAX Energy, through its wholly owned subsidiary ENMAX Green Power Inc., are equal partners in construction and ownership of the McBride Lake wind farm. Vision Quest will operate the facility and ENMAX Energy will purchase the electrical output. In addition, the project is supported by the federal government's Wind Power Production Incentive (WPPI) program.

When the facility is completed early in the summer of this year, the 75-megawatt, $100-million wind farm will produce about 235,000 MWh/year of electricity from 114 Vestas wind turbines - enough energy to power more than 32,500 homes annually.

"Even given the severe challenges of construction during the winter, we were able to have wind turbines generating within only four months of breaking ground on the project," said Fred Gallagher, Managing Director and CEO of Vision Quest. "It's a remarkable achievement."

ENMAX Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ENMAX, provides wind-generated electricity to residential and commercial customers like the Government of Alberta through its Greenmax program. At present, about 4,000 residential customers and 200 commercial customers support the program.

Source: Canada News Wire