Toronto, Canada [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] Manulife Financial announced the completion of a CAN $194.5 million financing with Boralex Inc. for the construction and long term operation of a portfolio of nine 10 megawatt (MW) wind farms in southwest Ontario, Canada. Manulife formed and led a syndicate of Canadian life insurance companies to provide the funding in the form of construction and term loans with 21-year terms, to support the Thames River Project. Manulife is the arranger and agent with an investment of $88.5 million.
The 90 MW Thames River Project consists of a portfolio of nine separate 10-MW wind farms located in Ontario between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. The most westerly 10 MW wind farm is approximately 20 kilometers south of Windsor and the most easterly wind farm is approximately 30 kilometers southeast of Chatham.
Four of the nine wind farms have been completed and commissioned and the remaining wind farms are under construction with scheduled completion later this year.
Each of the nine 10 MW wind farm will have five 2-MW E-82 wind turbine-generators from Enercon GmbH. More than 1,600 of the E-82 generators have been installed worldwide since 2006. Electricity generated by the nine 10 MW wind farms will be sold to Ontario Power Authority under the Advanced RESOP contracts.
“We are very pleased to assist Boralex through the arrangement and providing of financing to support this significant wind power project. The Thames River Project is well underway and we look forward to its successful completion by the end of this year,” said Bill Sutherland, senior managing director and head of the Canadian Project Finance Team at Manulife Financial.
Boralex developed its first power project in the early 90s with the construction of Canada’s first natural gas fuelled cogeneration power plant in Kingsey Falls, Quebec. Including the completion of the last 50 MW at Thames River and the 49 MW currently under construction in France, Boralex will have installed wind capacity of 516 MW by the end of 2010.
Boralex’s wind portfolio will then account for more than 50% of its total installed capacity. All 259 MW benefit from long-term power purchase agreements signed with strong counterparties.
