Wind farms to power up North's economy.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: News

Investors are waiting in the wings to dive into Ontario's green energy market and potentially the province's first wind farm on Manitoulin Island.

Gore Bay businessman Rick Gagnon says the sheer volume of proposals from the private sector that responded to the province's invitation for new sources of renewable power-worth an estimated 4,400 megawatts of potential energy--is proof positive that "there is a huge interest in green energy, specifically wind."

"The investors are ready to invest in Ontario," says Gagnon, one of the partners in a development consortium with Toronto's Northland Power Inc., aiming to have a wind farm operational on Manitoulin Island by the fall of 2005.

As a principal in REpower Wind Corp., Gagnon's company hopes to supply Northland Power Inc. with wind turbines for the $97-million project, billed as one of the most advanced wind farm projects in Ontario.

Northland's McLean's Mountain proposal near Little Current is one of 90 projects that came forward during the spring, in the province's invitation to find 300 megawatts of new renewable power. Renewables include wind, solar, gas from landfill or compost (biogas) and some forms of water power. Companies that want to produce renewables must now formally submit bids through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process by Aug. 25. The winning proposals will be selected by year's end.

"Aug. 25 is going to be a big day for us," says Gagnon of his two-year-old Sudbury company, a joint German-Canadian venture which has plans to manufacture and distribute wind turbines for the North American market.

Proposals will be chosen starting with the lowest price per megawatt-hour and the winning bidders will negotiate 15-year contracts with the new Ontario Power Authority.

Though Gagnon says REpower is working on several green-power possibilities in Alberta and other provinces, McLean's Mountain represents a "top priority" project towards establishing a permanent manufacturing presence in Sudbury.

He says Ontario's wind industry is "coming alive" and his company has attracted considerable interest from private and business investors wanting to finance many of his green energy projects. As well, he has been hearing from industrial players looking at alternative energy to supply power directly for manufacturing.

"Even leasing companies have contacted us, interested in leasing the machines for different developments.

The overwhelming RFP response has initiated a second round of Request for...