Acciona and Suncor Energy begin building Ontario wind project

Acciona Wind Energy Canada and Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU)today announced they have started pouring foundations for their 76-megawatt (MW) wind power project near Ripley, Ontario.

The Ontario Energy Board recently granted regulatory approval for the wind farm's two substations and transmission line, completing the project's key regulatory requirements.

The Ripley Wind Power Project will include 38 two-megawatt Enercon wind turbines, a transmission line and two electrical substations. The wind farm is to be located on the eastern shores of Lake Huron in Huron-Kinloss Township, approximately 220 kilometers west of Toronto and 140 kilometers north of London, Ontario.

The project is expected to have the capacity to generate enough zero-emission electricity to power 24,000 homes and offset approximately 66,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Project cost is estimated at approximately $176 million. Construction is expected to be complete this summer, with commissioning anticipated for late 2007.

The project is the result of the Ontario government's request for proposals to supply approximately 1,000 MW of renewable energy. The Ontario government aims to produce 10 per cent of the province's electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

Suncor and Acciona will also submit an application for funding from the Canadian government's recently announced ecoEnergy Renewable Power Initiative, which supports wind power development in Canada.

Suncor and Acciona are equal partners in the Ripley Wind Power Project. They also jointly own and operate, along with Enbridge, two 30-megawatt wind power projects in southern Alberta. Suncor and Enbridge also own and operate a 11.2-megawatt project near Gull Lake, Saskatchewan.

Suncor, which operates a Sarnia-based refinery and a network of Sunoco retail stations, also runs the largest ethanol production facility in Canada, located in the Sarnia-Lambton region of Ontario.

Acciona Wind Energy Canada, formerly EHN, is owned by Acciona S.A., a Spanish leader in the development, construction, operation and ownership of renewable energy projects.

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