GDF SUEZ Canada Announces Start of Commercial Operation of the 99MW Cape Scott Wind Project in British Columbia

TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- GDF SUEZ Canada Inc. today announced the 99MW Cape Scott Wind Project on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, entered commercial operation under a 20-year power purchase agreement with BC Hydro.

Located about 40 kilometers west of Port Hardy within the traditional territories of the Kwakiutl, Quatsino, and Tlatlasikwala First Nations and outside of Cape Scott Provincial Park, the CDN $325 million wind project has the capacity to generate over 290 gigawatt-hours of clean, renewable energy annually, enough to meet the electricity needs of approximately 100,000 British Columbians.

The Cape Scott project created more than 300 construction jobs during peak construction and 12 permanent operating and maintenance positions. Since the start of construction in the summer of 2011, the project infused more than $51 million into the local economy.

With the addition of the Cape Scott Wind Project, GDF SUEZ Canada and partners Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Fiera Axium Infrastructure currently operate 660 MW of wind-powered generation facilities in the Canadian Maritimes, Ontario, and British Columbia and have a growing solar portfolio. Cape Scott is the joint venture's tenth wind installation in Canada.

GDF SUEZ Canada's President Mike Crawley, remarked, "The Cape Scott Wind Project represents a significant engineering feat and strengthens our position as one of the leading renewable energy generators in Canada.  We're proud to continue demonstrating our commitment to environmentally sound power generation within a province that shares this priority."

Named "Project of the Year" by Clean Energy British Columbia in late 2013, the Cape Scott wind site features 55 Vestas V100 turbines each with 1.8MW of capacity. 3 Nations Construction Ltd., a joint venture created by the Kwakiutl, Quatsino, and Tlatlasikwala First Nations, and Lemare Group, constructed a large part of the project's roads and earthworks.

About GDF SUEZ
GDF SUEZ Canada Inc. is part of GDF SUEZ Energy North America, Inc., which manages a range of energy businesses in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, including electricity generation and cogeneration, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution and sales, and retail energy sales and related services to commercial and industrial customers. GDF SUEZ Energy North America owns and/or operates cogeneration, steam, and chilled water facilities, including those in construction, representing a capacity of approximately 13,000 MW of electricity generation, 3.5 million pounds per hour of steam, and 37,000 tons per hour of chilled water. Renewable fuels—wind, hydro, biomass, and solar—power 31 of the facilities in the portfolio. The company's natural gas assets include an LNG receiving terminal just north of Boston, Massachusetts, and natural gas distribution networks and pipelines in Mexico that serve more than 400,000 customers.  GDF SUEZ Energy North America is a subsidiary of the international energy group GDF SUEZ.  Please visit www.gdfsuezna.com and www.gdfsuez.com and follow GDF SUEZ Energy North America on Twitter: @GDFSUEZna.

SOURCE GDF SUEZ Canada Inc.