TransAlta Corp. (TA-T23.540.180.77%) says it will spend $100-million to expand the Kent Hills wind facility in New Brunswick, southwest of Moncton.

The Calgary-based company announced Monday that the electricity produced at the expanded wind farm will be sold to New Brunswick Power under a 25-year distribution agreement.

The expanded facility is expected to be in service by the end of this year, the company said. TransAlta has traditionally been highly dependent on coal-fired generators to produce its electricity.

The 18-turbine expansion will be situated south of TransAlta's existing Kent Hills operations, which are southwest of Moncton, the company said.

The new project will provide 160,000 megawatt hours each year, which is sufficient for about 9,000 homes.

"With the completion of the Kent Hills expansion next year, we will have over 1,000 MW of wind power and over 2,000 MW of renewable energy in operation across Canada and the United States," said TransAlta president and CEO Steve Snyder.

The Kent Hills wind farm has been in operation for about a year, with capacity to produce 96 megawatts of electricity.

The new contract will supply New Brunswick Power with an additional 54 megawatts of wind power to their distribution system, and still requires regulatory and environmental approvals.

AUTHOR: The Canadian Press

January 11th, 2010

SOURCE: The Globe and Mail