Northland Power Income Fund, a Canadian income trust that has ownership or economic interests in 9 power projects totalling more than 1,050 MW, announced on December 16 the sale of its 54 MW Mont Miller wind farm located near Murdochville, Que., to NextEra Energy Canada. 

The Mont Miller wind farm was co-developed by Northland and 3Ci Inc., a Quebec-based developer, and achieved commercial operation in 2005. Mont Miller has a contract to sell all of its power to Hydro-Quebec until 2026.

“NextEra Energy Canada owns the Copper Mountain wind farm next door to Mont Miller and the two projects are virtually identical,” said Northland Power CEO John Brace. “We were not seeking a buyer for Mont Miller, and in fact we are actively pursuing other wind farm opportunities in Quebec, but consolidation of the two projects made sense for operating and maintenance efficiencies. — In the end, we found it advantageous to sell.”

After the sale, Northland’s operating assets total 815 megawatts of generating capacity. The company also has a development pipeline of 3,300 megawatts, of which 683 megawatts have power contracts, with 446 megawatts of those under construction.

Northland recently closed $106 million in non-recourse debt financing for a 100 MW wind farm under construction near Mont Louis in Quebec’s Gaspesie region. 

The company is also building the 260 MW North Battleford natural-gas-fired combined cycle facility and the 86 MW Spy Hill natural-gas-fired peaking plant, both in Saskatchewan. All three projects are on budget and on or ahead of schedule. All energy produced by these projects will be sold under long-term contracts to provincially-backed power authorities.