Monday, December 1 2008
December 1st 2008
In spite of freezing rain…
On Saturday, in front of about 50 people who contributed to its installation, Cartier Énergie éolienne inaugurated its wind farm in Carleton.
The company formed by Innergex and Transcanada wind invested 170 million dollars to erect its third park which consist of 73 wind turbines with a maximum power of 109 megawatts.
Saturday, 93 towers were producing. The park was generating 13 megawatts of wind energy. Over the last few days the installations were struck with freezing rain.
Gilles Lefrançois, the president of Cartier Énergie éolienne, who was present at the ceremony, underlined the exceptional work done by the park’s general contractor Blattner-Pomerleau.
“I think it’s impossible for us not to mention the contractor Blattner-Pomerleau, which faced great challenges (…) they had to work and build roads during a winter where incredible amounts of snow fell. Amounts we see about every 50 years and maybe even 100 years. Therefore they, as well as their contractors faced incredible challenges and succeeded…”
Nathalie Normandeau the deputy-minister was also present at the inauguration and wished that with its new experience with wind farms, Gaspésie would become a reference in Quebec, Canada and North America.
“If a few years, when we’ll speak of wind energy in Quebec, I hope that all eyes are turned towards people in Gaspésie and the hard work and investment that was put towards developing a clean, renewable and green energy which will benefit future generations.”
According to Cartier Énergie Éolienne, during the construction of the farm 86% of workers were from the Gaspésie region or Matane. 71% of these workers lived in Avignon or Bonaventure.
CIEU - FM