A Quiet Giant Moves In

Canada's wind energy market has attracted NextEra Energy, a big American player, which has set its sights on growth in Ontario, citing policies like the province's 'feed-in tariff' that guarantees prices and long-term contracts

A massive Florida-based electric company is emerging as a key player in Canada's burgeoning wind power market.

FPL Group, through its NextEra Energy Resources renewable energy arm, is quietly building up a portfolio of wind farms across the country, and has major expansion plans, particularly in Ontario, where it is drawn by a "feed-in tariff" policy guaranteeing prices and long-term contracts for green power.

NextEra is already the biggest wind energy producer in the United States, and the second-largest in the world. It has a huge portfolio of more than 60 wind farms that generate 7,500 megawatts of power - about one-fifth of U.S. total wind production. That's more than double the total wind capacity from all turbines in Canada.

NextEra made a modest move across the border three years ago, setting up an office in Burlington, Ont., staffed by about half-a-dozen people. Then, in 2008, it bought two existing Canadian wind farms from Creststreet Power & Income Fund: the 17-turbine Pubnico Point project near Yarmouth, N.S., and the 30-turbine Mount Copper project near Murdochville in the Gaspé region of Quebec.