National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Wind farm near Carmangay slated to begin early next year, say Greengate officials

Greengate Power is on track to begin its 300-megawatt Blackspring Ridge wind farm project near Carmangay in early 2013, officials told Vulcan County council Nov. 7.

“Since we saw you last, we’ve been continuing to actively continue with the engineering, continue with the financing for the project, and we’re at the late stage for both,” said Ryan Tourigny of Greengate Power Corp.

Greengate Power made councillors aware that the Calgary-based company has opted to change the wind turbine to a Vestas V100 from a V90.

“The V-100 wasn’t available when we originally worked with you on the project,” Tourigny said. “This is really an evolution of the design.”

The change does cause Greengate to do some permitting work.

“We’re working with Vulcan (County) administration to verify it’s still within the guidelines of our original permit,” said Tourigny, adding Greengate is assessing whether it needs to approach the County about additional setback relaxations.

“Please stay tuned – we’ll be back with additional information about that very soon.”

Greengate is also preparing to update the Alberta Utilities Commission on the equipment.

“I remain very excited about the project and very appreciative of your support,” Tourigny said. “I just really can’t wait to get going.”

The change does not affect the number of turbines – 166 – at the Blackspring Ridge project.

“It allows us to better capture the wind,” said Pablo Argenal, vice-president, transmission and regulatory.

The project is very much happening, and much of the work has been completed, Argenal said.

“Essentially we’re ready to go,” he said.