Western Wind to develop an additional new 30 to 80MW wind project in
Tehachapi, CA
Toronto Stock Exchange (Venture) Symbol: "WND"
Issued and Outstanding: 46,099,397
VANCOUVER, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Western Wind Energy Corp ("Western
Wind") is pleased to announce that it has secured approximately 575 contiguous
acres near Tehachapi, California through land purchases and ground leases and
plans to pursue the development of an additional wind energy project of at
least 30MW. The new project will be named Windswept. Western Wind is working
on acquiring or leasing additional contiguous land parcels that could see
Windswept increase to over 1,500 acres and up to 80MWs.
Windswept is just west of Western Wind's current late development stage
Windstar project and shares similar wind speeds to Windstar's lower resource
area. Windswept completion is still several years away and is subject to
obtaining wind energy zoning from Kern County, a power purchase agreement,
interconnection to Southern California Edison's new transmission line,
financing and other development milestones.
About Tehachapi Pass Wind Area
Tehachapi Pass is one of the largest wind parks in the world, with over 5,000
wind turbines owned and operated by a variety of different entities. Tehachapi
Pass generates over 705 MW of nameplate capacity, the maximum rated output the
turbines could produce according to the turbine manufacturer, producing over
1.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. In Tehachapi Pass, the
mean-average annual wind speeds and frequency distributions are well
documented due to the long history of wind energy generation in the area and
the area is considered to be an "excellent" wind resource according to the
American Wind Energy Association ("AWEA"). Capacity factors in Tehachapi Pass
are in excess of 40% using modern wind turbines, compared to an estimated
average 36% capacity factor for all 2007 U.S. installations, according to the
AWEA.
In addition, California's electricity rates are among the highest in the U.S.
and, in November 2008, the governor of the State of California signed
Executive Order S-14-08 requiring that California utilities reach a 33%
renewable energy goal by 2020, exceeding the previous legislative mandate that
electric utilities supply 20% of their total retail power sales from renewable
resources by 2010. According to CAISO, the renewable portfolio standard will
require 8,000 MW of new wind generation. Approximately 4,000 MW is expected to
come from the Tehachapi Pass Wind Resource Area.
About Western Wind Energy Corp.
Western Wind is a vertically integrated renewable energy electrical production
company that currently owns over 500 wind turbines with 34.5 MW of rated
capacity and a further 131MW of expansion power purchase agreements in the
States of California and Arizona. Western Wind further owns additional
development assets for both Solar and Wind Energy in California, Arizona,
Ontario, Canada and a development team in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Western Wind is in the business of owning and acquiring land sites and
technology for the production of electricity from wind and solar energy.
Management of Western Wind Energy includes individuals involved in the
operations and ownership of utility scale wind energy facilities in California
since 1981.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"SIGNED"
Jeffrey J. Ciachurski
Chief Executive Officer
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking
statements" under applicable securities laws, which involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be
materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such statements. Words such as "expects",
"anticipates", "intends", "projects", "plans", "will", "believes", "seeks",
"estimates", "should", "may", "could", and variations of such words and
similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.
Such statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the
Company's intended use of proceeds from the Offering. These statements are
based on management's current expectations and beliefs and actual events or
results may differ materially. There are many factors that could cause such
actual events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied
by such statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the
Company's ability to profitably utilize the lands as planned and the other
factors discussed in the Company's annual report and annual information
contained in the Company's 20F Annual Report filed with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission and securities regulators in Canada.
Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and the Company
assumes no obligation to update such information to reflect later events or
developments, except as required by law.
SOURCE Western Wind Energy
WESTERN WIND ENERGY CORP., 1326 - 885 WEST GEORGIA STREET, VANCOUVER, BC, V6C
3E8, TELEPHONE: (604) 685-WIND (9463), FACSIMILE: (604) 685-9441,
www.westernwindenergy.com
