Canada’s La Caisse provides loan financing for 43-turbine Québec wind project

Canadian pension management giant the C$176.2bn (€130.7bn) Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is providing a C$50m loan to a 43-turbine, 101MW wind farm project in the province.
It will provide the term loan for the construction and operation of the Vents du Kempt Wind Power Project in Matapédia in eastern Québec.
The financing is part of the total project cost of more than $300m, as announced by developers Eolectric and Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada LP, a C$460m fund run by leading Canadian investment manager Fiera Capital.
Other backers include KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, the international lending arm of German development bank KfW, and the Manufacturers Life Insurance (Manulife).The project’s output will be sold to Québec government-owned electric utility Hydro-Québec under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
“Through this investment, we are contributing, along with banks and institutional investors, to the implementation of a new renewable energy project in Québec,” said La Caisse’s Executive Vice President of Fixed Income Marc Cormier.

“This financing is in line with our commitment to invest in companies that provide stable, long-term returns for our clients, the depositors.”
The project is expected to being commercial operation on December 1, 2014.
La Caisse manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans.