Holland it's not, but Manitoba is about to be home to a lot more windmills soon.
Manitoba Hydro Board has accepted a proposal for a 300 megawatt wind farm to be erected in southern Manitoba.
The proposal comes from St. Joseph Wind Farm Inc., owned by Babcock & Brown Canada.
If construction goes ahead as planned the new power generation site will be the largest wind farm in Canada.
The planned location is at St. Joseph near Letellier in southern Manitoba.
They said the St. Joseph proposal was the best received in response to Manitoba Hydro's request for proposals in 2007 and brings the province one step closer to achieving its goal of developing 1,000 MW of wind power. Manitoba Hydro received over 84 proposals throughout the tender process.
The project is subject to regulatory approvals and execution of a power purchase agreement with construction expected to start in 2009 and power deliveries starting as early as 2011. The exact schedule will depend upon the availability of materials and equipment for the wind turbines and related transmission facilities.
"This new wind farm underlines Manitoba's position as a leader in clean energy and will bring economic and environmental benefits to the local municipalities, Manitoba and the region," said Premier Gary Doer. "The St. Joseph wind farm represents another important step in diversifying Manitoba's energy resources."
"The St. Joseph wind farm will add another renewable resource to Manitoba's considerable portfolio of renewable hydroelectric generating facilities. We supply 97 per cent of Manitoba's electricity from renewable sources." said Hydro Chief Executive Officer Bob Brennan.
The project is worth over $800 million and will generate electricity from 130 turbines. It will result in $300 million in operational expenditures, $70 million in local landholder payments and $198 million in provincial and municipal revenues over the life of the project.
Environmental benefits include displacing 800,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of taking 145,000 cars off the road.
Manitoba Hydro will purchase wind-generated power as part of a proposed 25-year agreement with Babcock & Brown's North American Energy Group which has interests in more than 20 wind farms across North America with an aggregate value in excess of $3 billion. The group has worked closely on this project with local residents and Calgary-based wind developer BowArk Energy.
Manitoba's first wind farm, located near St. Leon and 99 megawatts in size, became fully operational in June 2006. It also provides electricity to Manitoba Hydro under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement.
With a report from CTV's Marni Kagan
