QUEBEC CITY — Quebec-based Boralex has announced a multi-level partnership to develop the Apuiat wind farm project to be located at Port-Cartier in the Cote-Nord region of Quebec.
The 200-megawatt facility will be developed with the Uashat mak Mani-utenam First Nation, the Province of Quebec, the Innu Essipit Band Council and Hydro-Quebec. It is expected 300 construction jobs will be created as the project is developed.
The 30-year contract between Hydro-Quebec Production and Parc eolien Apuiat S.E.C., a company jointly held by the Innu communities and Boralex, provides for the electricity to be bought at a cost of about six cents per kilowatt/hour.
The wind farm will be built on the traditional territory of the Uashat mak Mani-utenam First Nation. The Innu communities and Boralex are 50-50 partners in the project and will equally share the profits generated by the sale of electricity throughout the life of the project.
The community of Uashat mak Mani-utenam and the City of Port-Cartier will each receive annual royalties as host communities.
Construction of the wind farm is set to begin in the summer of 2022, and commissioning of the project is planned for December 2024.
“Apuiat is the result of an Innu idea, a desire to build collective wealth. For the first time across our nation, we are the master builders of a large project of benefit to the Innu and to Quebecers. This project will help us enter into a dialogue and build interdependence, instead of maintaining dependency,” stated Mike Mckenzie, chief of the Innu Community of Uashat mak Mani-utenam, in a Feb. 4 release.
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