Northland Power Wind Farm Receives Loan from Investissement Quebec

The wind power project was awarded a contract in 2004 to supply power to Hydro-Québec under a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement.

Site clearing began in early July and the wind energy project is expected to achieve commercial operations in the third quarter of 2011, subject to completion of the project’s interconnection facilities by Hydro-Québec.

The total cost of the wind turbines project is expected to be $176 million. Northland anticipates raising approximately $120 million of debt financing for the project, including the $15 million from Investissement Québec.

"We are very grateful for the encouragement and assistance we have received from Hydro-Québec and the government of Quebec, especially Investissement Québec and the Ministère des Ressources Naturelles et de la Faune throughout the development process," said John Brace, CEO of Northland. "We overcame several challenges in getting to this stage and the support of Investissement Québec has been instrumental in allowing this project to proceed."

Northland is a Canadian income trust that has ownership or economic interests in 10 power projects totaling over 1,100 megawatts ("MW") (net 872 MW). Northland’s assets comprise natural-gas-fired plants which efficiently and cleanly produce electricity and steam as well as facilities generating renewable energy from wind and biomass.

Sales are made almost entirely under long-term contracts with a current average duration of 13 years. Northland’s plants are located in Canada, the United States and Germany. In addition, Northland has the 86 MW Spy Hill project, 260 MW North Battleford project and 216 MW of wind energy, solar and run-of-river hydro projects awarded under the Ontario Power Authority’s Feed-in-Tariff program in advanced stages of development.

Northland also has a diverse development portfolio of high-quality ‘Clean and Green’ energy projects, including wind, solar, natural gas, and hydro assets that supports its strategy of sustainable growth primarily through internally developed opportunities.

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