Wind flies in Manitoba

Manitoba’s wind power industry has taken off, with an announcement that the first wind farm is to be constructed by the end of 2005 near St. Leon, 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

AirSource Power, a company owned by Algonquin Power of Ontario and GreenWing Energy of Vancouver, is to construct the 99-MW project with 63 Vestas V82 wind turbine generators with 80-metre towers. They should generate enough power for 35,000 homes.

The province plans to develop up to 1,000 MW of wind power in the next decade.