Canada's largest wind farm built in Quebec

A newly expanded wind farm on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula became Canada’s largest. commissioned wind project. The second phase of the Gros-Morne project came online, bringing the project’s total operating nameplate capacity to 211 megawatts.

Cartier Wind Energy Inc. developed and operates the Gros-Morne project. The company, known as Cartier Énergie Éolienne in French, was founded in 2004 as a partnership of TransCanada Corporation (62% owner) and Innergex Renewable Energy or its associated Innergex Power Income Fund (38).

Cartier submitted winning bids to provincial electric utility Hydro-Québec Distribution in response to its request for proposals seeking to buy 1000 megawatts of wind power from merchant projects on the Gaspé Peninsula. As a result, the company was selected to construct and operate six wind farms spread around the administrative region of Gaspesie, Iles-de-la-Madeleine and the Regional County Municipality of Matane.

Collectively, the Cartier projects’ total nameplate capacity will be 740 megawatts. Over 600 megawatts have now been commissioned, including the Baie-des-Sables, Carleton, L'Anse-à-Valleau, and Montagne Sèche projects in addition to Gros-Morne.

Cartier now ranks among Canada’s largest owners of wind generation capacity. Wind is a growing sector in Canada, with the Canadian Wind Energy Association projecting that the country will host 6,400 megawatts of wind capacity by the end of 2012, with Quebec alone accounting for over 1,247 megawatts.