Pattern Energy Signs PPA for Quebec Wind Project
Pattern Energy Signs PPA for Quebec Wind Project
A leading renewable energy power transmission infrastructure company said it signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a Canadian group for electricity from a wind farm project in Québec.
Pattern Energy Group LP on June 18 announced a 30-year PPA with Hydro-Québec for the latter’s 150-MW Broughton Wind project, located in the municipalities of Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, Sacré-Coeur-de-Jésus, and Thetford Mines in Québec, about 40 miles south of Québec City.
“We are proud to collaborate with Hydro-Québec on this exciting new renewable energy project,” said Hunter Armistead, CEO of Pattern Energy. “With 11 facilities and counting, Pattern is leading Canada’s renewable energy industry, building new ties with our Indigenous partners and supporting local communities. Broughton Wind is just another example of our commitment to Quebec and Canada as we help power half a million Canadian homes.”
Broughton Wind is a 50/50 joint venture partnership between Pattern Energy and a coalition of community and First Nations partners: the MRC des Appalaches, MRC de l’ Érable, Conseil des Abenakis d’Odanak, and Conseil des Abenakis de Wolinak. The project will provide a positive and lasting economic impact by increasing and diversifying the revenues of the participating MRCs and Aboriginal communities.
The Broughton Wind project represents an approximately CAD $500 million ($365 million) investment and will bring robust economic benefits to the region, building on the success of Pattern Energy’s Mont Sainte-Marguerite Wind facility in Québec. The project will create up to 200 jobs during construction, including equipment operators, electricians, laborers, and other professionals from a range of disciplines, and once operational, 10 full-time employees will operate and maintain the facility.
Broughton Wind is anticipated to begin construction in 2028 and reach commercial operation in 2029. The project will double Pattern Energy’s capacity in the province.
Pattern Energy is the largest operator of wind power in Canada, having brought 11 wind power facilities to operation across five provinces, and currently operates 1,980 MW of installed capacity in the country.
—POWER edited this content, which was contributed by Pattern Energy’s corporate communications group.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.