News
Sequoia Energy gets Environment Licences
to develop more wind farms in Manitoba
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, October 18, 2006
Sequoia Energy Inc. is the first wind energy company to secure three provincial
Environment Act Licences to build new wind farms in southern Manitoba.
"Getting an environmental license is a big step, but to get three
for three different sites in Manitoba is a major milestone for wind energy
development. it's one of the most important hurdles in building wind farms
and no one gets to develop a wind farm without them," Sequoia CEO Ron
Diduch said today.
It's taken several years to acquire the environmental licences, which included
hosting public open houses in communities and doing in-depth analysis of
soil, water and wildlife in the proposed areas to ensure the regions can
support a wind farm. In Manitoba, an independent environmental assessor
must do that research and the final report must be submitted to the Manitoba
government for its review.
As a result Manitoba Conservation has issued licences that give Sequoia
Energy and its partners the environmental green light to develop wind farms
in the Pembina Hills area in south central Manitoba just west of the town
of Miami and around Deerwood; in the Killarney area in southwest Manitoba;
and near Dacotah (in the Elie area) just west of Winnipeg. Each of those
projects has a capability of producing 99 megawatts of power. When
combined, they create nearly 300 megawatts and can power 100,000 homes.
"It's always been our philosophy that it takes a whole community to
build a wind farm. In fact, I recently calculated that I've personally made
over 300 visits with landowner families in one community alone. As a result
of meeting with people one-on-one and answering their questions today we
have over 350 landowners across Manitoba who have signed land agreements
with us. What they tell us is that the future wind farms in their communities
mean more than the dollars. It means pride in their community, and long
term sustainability." said Sequoia President Bob Spensley.
Another critical step that a wind energy developer must take is to get permission
to connect into Manitoba Hydro's transmission lines once the energy is created.
After the first stages of assessing transmission effects, Manitoba Hydro
organizes energy projects into a wait list or transmission queue.
"We started negotiating with Manitoba Hydro's transmission department
four years ago on how and where we could connect into their system. As a
result, these three projects are near the top of the list to connect into
Manitoba Hydro's transmission system," Diduch adds.
The Province of Manitoba and Manitoba Hydro announced in September that
they would issue a Request for Proposals shortly to invite wind energy developers
to bid on developing 300 megawatts of wind energy in Manitoba. Once that
process is complete and a developer or developers are selected then wind
farms can be developed.
"We estimate we've spent $8 million of private money getting to this stage and if we are fortunate to develop these projects fully we would invest an additional $5700 million. We know we have a few more steps to take before we can put shovels in the ground, but we're well positioned to get going," says Diduch.
Ron Diduch
CEO, Sequoia Energy Inc.
Phone: (204) 927-0293
Cell: (204) 797-7388
Email: rdiduch@sequoia-energy.com
Bob Spensley
President, Sequoia Energy Inc
Phone: (204) 927-0290
Cell: (204) 955-5167
Email: bspensley@sequoia-energy.com