COWLEY RIDGE UPDATE

Also at CanWEA, Kenetech's Bud Grebey gave an update on the 18.9 MW Cowley Ridge wind plant near Pincher Creek, which uses 52 of Kenetech's KVS-33 wind turbines. Software and engineering modifications were required to cope with "robust" winds in the area, which frequently caused yawing of up to 25 to 40 degrees per second. After initial startup problems Cowley Ridge availability was above 90% in 1994, and has been consistently above 97% in 1995. Through August of this year, the plant has delivered 64,383 MWh to the grid, said Grebey. The project is owned by Canadian Niagara Power Ltd, a private sector utility in Ontario and subsidiary of Opinac Energy Corp. Cowley Ridge -- Kenetech's first utility-scale project outside of northern California using the KVS machine -- is a "proving ground" for the firm's cold weather wind plants, said Grebey.