Summerside commits to wind energy

The City of Summerside has signed a contract with Ventus Energy to buy enough electricity to serve 23 per cent of its needs for the next 20 years.

Ventus Energy will begin building a 99 MW wind farm next week at West Cape, on the southwest corner of P.E.I., which will serve the Summerside contract.

"With the price of other fuels and energy, and with P.E.I. being one of the most windiest parts of the country, we feel this is the way to go," said Summerside Mayor Basil Stewart Wednesday.

The city will start buying wind power from Ventus Energy next year. The contract is good for 20 years.

Summerside has its own electrical utility, and so was bound by provincial legislation requiring utilities to have at least 15 per cent of their power sourced from renewable energy by the year 2010. Stewart points out the contract means Summerside will exceed those requirements, and do it ahead of schedule.

Stewart said city ratepayers won't notice a difference in their power bills, but neither he, nor Ventus president John Douglas would talk about the details of the deal, saying they are bound bya confidentiality agreement.

The wind farm at West Cape will be Ventus's second on the Island. It is already constructing a 9 MW wind farm in Norway, near North Cape.

The first phase of the West Cape wind farm will be 11 turbines producing 9 MW, enough to serve the Summerside contract. Eventually there will 44 turbines on the site producing a total of 99 MW.

The extra power is expected to go to the New England market. Ventus says the project will cost $230 million.

Stewart saidSummerside is still considering building a 12 MW wind farm of its own.