February 24, 2010

Trillium Power chooses Vestas Offshore as turbine supplier

‘Regulatory certainty’ boosts projects

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Trillium Power has designated Vestas Offshore, a global leader in offshore wind turbine development, as the main supplier for its group of Ontario Great Lakes offshore wind projects.

“When Vestas approached us early last summer, they did not just try to sell us their turbines; they asked how they could assist us in meeting the present challenges in the North American offshore wind market,” said John Kourtoff, Trillium Power’s president and CEO.

Denmark-based Vestas has installed more than 40,000 wind turbines in 65 countries on five continents. The company reports it installs an average of one wind turbine every three hours and that its turbines generate more than 60 million megawatts (MW) of energy per year. Considered a pioneer in wind turbine manufacturing, Vestas holds a 20 per cent share of the global wind turbine market.

Kourtoff said the Vestas Offshore deal is one in a series of key developments expected this year for his company. Trillium has four Ontario projects expected to generate approximately 3,700 MW of offshore wind energy. Developing these four project sites requires private investment of $14.8 billion over a 10- to 12-year period.

“We are putting our teams together right now to work with the high-level construction companies that have experience with offshore and also sub-construction and sub-component companies,” said Kourtoff.

“Things are moving quickly in the background.”

Trillium will use Vestas turbines for its first offshore wind development, Trillium Power Wind 1, located 17 to 28 kilometres offshore in northeastern Lake Ontario near Prince Edward County. As part the new supplier agreement, Vestas will become the exclusive provider of up to 740 turbines, as well as other services. Vestas will also assist Trillium Power to determine the appropriate mix of turbines to optimize the power production at each Trillium Power site.

The agreement with Vestas was built on the “regulatory certainty” of Ontario’s renewable energy market thanks to the province’s Green Economy Act and feed-in tariffs system, said Kourtoff. Creating this framework and investing in offshore is akin to the initial investment made 100 years ago to build the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power stations in Niagara Falls, he added.

“We are still benefitting from the investment in that renewable resource,” he said. “Once you make the initial input cost for it (renewable energy), does not cost you any more to develop it. That is not the same with fossil and nuclear, (which) continue to have price increases over time.”

A recent report on North America’s offshore wind market noted that on an aggregate basis, Ontario presently holds 78 per cent of North America’s reserve offshore wind potential. There are 66,000 to 97,000 jobs to be created through construction, manufacturing and related services in a maturing offshore wind market, the report found.

“Offshore wind as a resource is not finite and if it is built up, it could represent three per cent of Ontario’s economy,” said Kourtoff.

“We’ve forgotten that renewable energy is what got us here, renewable is what gives us stability in pricing and looking to it now brings sustainable jobs and economic development for the future.”

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