Westman Wind Power Company announced that it is developing eight wind power projects in Manitoba (Canada). The eight projects, which are spread across Manitoba, have an initial capacity of approximately 700MW and a potential maximum capacity of more than 1,400MW.
The total value of the projects is approximately Can$ 1.5 billion. CFI Group (CFI) has been engaged to arrange financing to develop the wind farm projects. Westman is developing the projects with technical support and assistance from Wardrop Engineering, one of the largest engineering firms based in Manitoba, and two other wind power developers, Padoma Wind Power and Gale Force Energy. In selecting site locations, the Westman team relied on Helimax Energy, a Canadian wind energy consultant. Five of Westman’s projects are located on private land, and Westman has already negotiated land use agreements for more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of land. Wind monitoring programmes (which measure the wind resource) have commenced on all of the sites and will continue for at least 18 months. Westman has also filed applications to use more than 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) of Crown Land for two further projects and negotiations are ongoing for the final project, which is located in the Churchill area.