East Point Wind Farm

The East Point Wind Farm has 10 Vestas V-90 turbines with a capacity of three megawatts (MW) each that generate an average of 90 Gigawatt (GW) hours annually. The average house in Prince Edward Island uses about 8,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually so the wind farm can power 11,000 homes per year.  

Each year, landowners in proximity to the wind farm receive 2.5 per cent of the wind farm’s gross revenue. 

What was involved in constructing the wind farm?

The wind farm was constructed in 2006 at a total cost of $55 million. A 44-km transmission line carries energy from the wind farm to a substation at Dingwell's Mills.

Construction began in mid-July 2006 with road clearing and building. Turbine components, shopped from Denmark and Scotland, arrived in Souris in September.

How big is each of the turbines?

• The rotor diameter is 90 metres, thus the name V-90. The rotor diameter of the turbines at North Cape is 47 metres.
• The height to the hub (the nose of the turbine) is 81 metres – equivalent to a 26-storey building. The turbines at North Cape have a 50-metre hub height. The Peace Tower in Ottawa is 92.2 metres high.
• The nacelle, which is a cover housing all of the generating components in a wind turbine, including the generator, gearbox, drive train, and brake assembly, weighs approximately 90 tonnes.
• Each blade weighs 6.7 tonnes. An average car weighs a little over one tonne.
• The foundation is octagon shaped and is 17 metres from side to side and three metres deep. Each foundation contains approximately 1.4 million kilograms of concrete or about 80-85 truckloads. A typical house foundation contains four truckloads of concrete.

How does the wind farm benefit the environment?

The wind farm displaces 70,000 tons of greenhouse gases every year. This is the equivalent of taking 15,000 cars off the road.