Canada - REpower emphasises its commitment to Québec

Speaking at an event in Montreal organised by the German-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Chief Technical Officer Matthias Schubert of REpower Systems AG (WKN 617703) emphasised his company’s commitment to investments in Québec. ”We see the tender as an ideal opportunity for building up a second strong pillar in our North-American business and therefore we see this step as a long-term, strategic activity.” REpower has recently established a Canadian subsidiary based in Montreal which will be the centre of future REpower activities in Canada.

REpower proposes to source steel towers, wind turbine blades and electrical modules from facilities based in the Gaspé and Matane regions of Québec. Precise locations for these facilities remain in discussions. REpower is convinced that its established supply partners are willing to invest in adequate production facilities in case of a positive tender decision. Furthermore, any investment in context with the tender would create a range of permanent high-qualified manufacturing jobs.

Facilities in Québec would be an integral part of REpower’s global supply chain and central in responding to its growing market share in the United States and Canada. The US and Canadian markets present a huge opportunity for exports from Québec-based facilities. 5,000 MW of wind capacity was installed in the US in 2007. Industry forecasts for Canada anticipate the addition of a further 12,000 MW of capacity by 2015.

REpower entered the Hydro-Québec tender in September 2007 as an exclusive supplier to the largest bidding consortium in the tender, St. Laurent Energies. This consortium submitted a bid with a total capacity of 1,048 megawatts which, if selected, shall be exclusively supplied by REpower turbines of the 2 megawatt class (MM82 and MM92).

These facilities would only be established in Québec pending a successful and timely response from Hydro-Québec, which is expected in the first half of 2008.