Good Energies, a multinational renewable energy investment firm, has announced $16 million for Winnipeg-based wind power firm Sequoia Energy, to finance its new developments in rural Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota.
Sequoia launched Manitoba’s first wind farm, a 99-mW project at St. Leon, and picked up provincial environmental licenses last fall to build wind turbines near the southern Manitoba communities of Miami, Deerwood, Killarney and Dacotah.
Sequoia has billed itself as pioneering a “community first” approach, meaning it seeks to ensure its projects preserve the “integrity” of established communities and fit well into existing energy systems — in this case, the provincially-owned grid operated by Manitoba Hydro.
St. Leon, for one, generally embraced the wind turbine project, incorporating the story of its development into an interpretive centre for visitors.
Good Energies, which runs a Canadian office at Oakville, Ont., and also operates in London, New York, Washington and Switzerland, said it would also provide technical and management expertise to Sequoia stemming from its own utility-grade wind power developments elsewhere.
