Capital Power LP said on Wednesday it has entered into a partnership with Samsung Renewable Energy and Pattern Renewable Holdings Canada to develop, build and operate a large, 270 megawatt wind power project in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The K2 Wind Ontario project is expected to cost between C$750 million ($781 million) and $900 million to develop and is located in southwestern Ontario. Construction is expected to start in 2013 and commercial operation is set for 2014.
K2, which was previously known as the Kingsbridge II Wind Power Project, has a power purchase agreement from the Ontario Power Authority.
Capital Power, an independent power producer and owner of Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Capital Power Corp, has been developing the project since 2006.
South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corp committed last year to invest C$7 billion in Ontario under the province’s Green Energy Act, a plan by the Liberal government to wean the province off coal-fired power generation and onto renewable energy, while creating tens of thousands of jobs.
As part of the agreement, which includes hundreds of millions of dollars of incentives for Samsung, the Korean company has committed to building four wind and solar power clusters and four equipment manufacturing sites in the province.
“K2 will provide a significant portion of the equipment demand needed to establish our successful manufacturing base here in Ontario…,” Cheol-Woo Lee, senior executive vice-president of Samsung said in a statement.
Ontario’s opposition Progressive Conservative Party has vowed to scrap the Samsung agreement if it wins the October provincial election, saying the “sweetheart deal” gives unfair preferential treatment to the Korean corporation.
