Mainstream Renewable Power, the wind-energy developer founded by Eddie O’Connor, has signed an 840 million Canadian dollars (€514 million) joint venture deal with wind farm developer Alberta Wind Energy Corporation (AWEC) to build wind energy plants in Canada.
The joint venture company is planning to have an initial portfolio of over 400 mega watts (MW) of wind energy plants in operation by 2013.
The company aims to have the first 46MW Old Man River project up and running in the Pincher Creek area of Alberta by 2010, while the 62MW Windy Point Wind Farm project is expected to be fully operational by 2012.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mainstream, which was established by Airticity founder Eddie O'Connor last year, holds an 80 per cent share of the joint venture, with AWEC taking a 20 per cent stake.
Mr O'Connor set up the company with former Airtricity corporate finance manager Fintan Whelan shortly after completing the sale of their original company to Scottish Southern Energy for €1 billion.
Since February of last year, Mainstream has raised €98 million in equity and mezzanine finance, including a €20 million equity investment from Barclays Capital and €26 million in loan notes raised earlier this year.
In November, Mainstream announced it had signed a €785 million deal to develop wind farms in Chile with local player Andes Energy.
Commenting on the latest deal, Mr O'Connor said: “Our entry into the Canadian market is another significant achievement. As with our deal in Chile, once again we’ve partnered with a great local team, who are developing top-quality projects and who possess the local knowledge necessary to take them forward to completion."
