Siemens Gamesa to supply subsidy-free Canadian wind farm

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) will supply a 130MW subsidy-free wind farm in Alberta, Canada – one of the country’s first to receive no public money, subsidy or tax benefit.

It will provide 26 of its SG 5.0-145 turbines to Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s (BHE’s) 130MW Rattlesnake Ridge Rattlesnake Ridge (130MW) OnshoreAlberta, Canada, North America Click to see full details project, under development at a site south-west of Medicine Hat, Alberta.

It is due to be commissioned in early 2022, when Siemens Gamesa will surpass 3.5GW of installed wind power capacity in Canada. 

BHE financed Rattlesnake Ridge through a combination of equity and debt. It is due to sell output from a 75MW portion of the project to Canadian telecommunications firm Telus, through a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA). It is in negotiations to sell output from the remaining 55MW.

Rattlesnake Ridge will be one of Canada’s first subsidy-free wind farms. Existing projects have typically won power contracts at auction.

Alberta’s United Conservative Party was elected to office in 2019, vowing to end the province’s renewable energy auctions, meaning wind farms in the western Canadian province now have to compete in a merchant environment.