Premier Shawn Graham has expressed his satisfaction for a project that will foster economic growth in New Brunswick and will help to reach the objective set by the provincial government that 10% of electricity demand should be covered by renewable energies by 2010.

The selection of ACCIONA to carry out the project is the result of a public tender called in May 2007 by NB Power, the regional electric utility company, to acquire wind power from private developers.

The wind park is wholly owned by ACCIONA Wind Energy Canada Inc., which will build and operate the facility and sign a power purchase agreement with NB Power for 25 years. The wind turbines will be supplied from the plant that ACCIONA Windpower recently opened in Iowa (USA).

For his part, President and CEO of NB Power David Hay said: "I am excited to have ACCIONA in New Brunswick and delighted about our move toward increasing renewable energy in the province".

Fourth wind park in Canada

Located on the island of the same name in Gloucester County, the Lamèque facility is expected to enter service in November 2009. It will produce 154 kilowatt-hours a year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 8,900 homes in the area, and will avoid the equivalent emission of 148,000 tons of carbon dioxide from coal-fired thermal power stations.

Lamèque will be the fourth wind park installed by ACCIONA in Canada and will increase the capacity it owns in the country to 185.5 MW (107.5 MW directly attributable to the company). The group already has two wind parks in the province of Alberta (Magrath and Chin Chute, both with a capacity of 30 MW), which it jointly owns at 33.3% with Canadian companies Suncor Energy and Enbridge, and another in Ontario province: Ripley (76 MW), jointly owned (50%) with Suncor.

ACCIONA also has several projects under development in Canada within its strategy to strengthen the company's presence in the North American market.