Invenergy Wind has commenced commercial operations of the phase one of its Des Moulins wind energy project in Quebec, Canada.
Located around 140 miles north-east of Montreal, in the three municipalities of Kinnear’s Mills, St-Jean-de-Brebeuf and Thetford Mines, the 135.7MW project is comprised of 59 Enercon E-82 2.3 MW wind turbine generators.
As one of the 15 projects selected in Hydro-Québec’s second call for tenders, Des Moulins will supply its output to the utility under a 20-year power supply contract.
Connected to the Hydro-Quebec TransEnergie transmission grid, the project will generate enough clean electricity to power around 45,000 homes.
The phase one plant, which has created over 450 skilled construction jobs and ten full-time jobs for operation and maintenance, significantly contributes to economic development of the area through lease payments to landowners and voluntary payments to the three host municipalities.
Invenergy chief development officer Jim Shield said with the start of operations milestone, the company now owns and operates more than 270MW of wind power generation projects in Quebec, bringing its overall clean energy operating portfolio in Canada to more than 950MW.
"Des Moulins is a substantial economic investment in the local area, and we look forward to a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with our host community," said Shield.
In December 2012, Invenergy Wind had closed project financing for phase one of the project, for which Prudential Capital acted as the structuring and documentation advisor, and Sovereign Bank served as the left lead coordinating bank, joint lead arranger, joint bookrunner and co-syndication agent.
Rabobank Nederland-NY Branch and Union Bank have also acted as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, while Sunlife Assurance also participated in the financing as a fixed rate note purchaser.
The project, which was acquired from 3Ci in May 2011, is Invenergy Wind’s third wind project in Quebec.
Image: The Des Moulins project features 59 Enercon wind turbines. Photo: courtesy of Invenergy Wind.
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