September 12, 2007

Cartier Wind gets green light to build 73 wind turbines in Quebec

Carleton-sur-Mer project estimated to cost $170 million

CARLETON-SUR-MER, QUE.

Cartier Wind Energy Inc. has won environmental approval for the proposed $170-million Carleton wind farm, with 73 turbines behind Mont Saint-Joseph, nearly 6 km from Carleton-sur-Mer on the picturesque Gaspe Peninsula.

The wind farm will have total installed capacity for 109.5 megawatts and meet electricity needs for the equivalent of more than 21,000 households, Cartier said. Commercial service is expected in December 2008.

Cartier is a partnership of TransCanada Corp. and Innergex II Income Fund.

The environment approval, through ministerial decree, will allow Cartier to begin construction once all other permits are obtained.

“Cartier welcomes the decree with enthusiasm and we are pleased to continue our collaboration with the Baie-des-Chaleurs community for the Carleton wind farm. We look forward to the same success that we have achieved with our previous wind farms at Baie-des-Sables and L’Anse-a-Valleau,” Martin Loiselle, general manager of Cartier, said.

The Carleton wind farm is the third project to be developed after Hydro-Quebec’s first wind energy call for tenders in 2004. It will result in the hiring of more than 200 people during construction and in community investments of $2.9 million to the municipalities over 21 years.

Cartier, based in the Montreal suburb of Longueuil, won 740 megawatts worth of wind energy projects in Hydro-Quebec’s first wind energy call for tenders for projects that will be developed from 2006 to 2012.

Cartier Wind Energy’s projects represent an investment of more than $1.1 billion.

DCN News Services

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