EDF Renewables Canada said that it won the contract in the Round 2 of the Renewable Electricity Program’s (REP2) competitive procurement process managed by the AESO on behalf of the Alberta Government.
It has signed 20 year renewable electricity support agreement (RESA) with the AESO to supply the electricity generated from the wind farm.The contract represents a partnership between EDF Renewables, Canada and the Blood Tribe.
The 202MW wind project will be located on 11,400 acres of privately owned land southeast of Medicine Hat, in Cypress County, Alberta, in the Traditional Territory of the Blood Tribe. It is estimated to create more than 250 jobs during the construction phase along with injecting millions of dollars into the local economy.
EDF Renewables Canada development manager David Warner said: “EDF Renewables is honored to partner with the Blood Tribe and support their tradition of turning innovative economic development strategies into sustainable businesses like the Cypress Wind Project.
“In the past year, the Cypress Wind Project team engaged with community members, local government officials and local businesses to make sure that the final design was socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
“Our goal is to minimize potential impacts to the environment, local stakeholders and Indigenous communities and to bring important economic opportunities to the Blood Tribe and Alberta businesses.”
Construction of the project is expected to begin in 2020 after the provincial and municipal approvals and permits are received. It will be operational in 2021 and the electricity generated from it will be enough to power 100,000 average Alberta homes.
EDF Renewables, an international player in renewable energies, has a gross installed capacity of 14.2GW across the world.
Presently it has a gross capacity of 1.6GW in Canada. It is mainly focused on wind and solar photovoltaic projects. The company mainly operates across Europe and North America, but it is also increasing its presence across countries such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa and the Middle East.
