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GLOBAL RENEWABLES ONLINE - JANUARY 2012
OTCQX under the symbol “WNDEF”
and on the Toronto Venture Ex-
change under “WND”. Western Wind
is a vertically integrated renewable
energy production company that
currently owns 165 MW of rated
solar and wind capacity in produc-
tion in the States of California and
Arizona. Western Wind further owns
substantial additional development
assets for both solar and wind en-
ergy in California, Arizona, Ontario,
Canada; and in the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico.
Western Wind is in the business
of owning and operating wind and
solar energy generating facilities.
Management of Western Wind in-
cludes individuals involved in the
operations and ownership of utility
scale wind energy facilities in Cali-
fornia since 1981.
WWEA SECRETARY GENERAL STEFAN
GSÄNGER RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY POWER AWARD
Toronto/Bonn– The OSEA 2011
Community Power Awards were
presented on the occasion of the 3rd
Community Power Conference in
Toronto (Canada). The award win-
ners are individuals who have made
significant contributions to the
Community Power movement in On-
tario and globally. WWEA Secretary
General Stefan Gsänger was hon-
ored as an International Community
Power Leader for his contribution to
the worldwide promotion of commu-
nity power.
The award presentation followed
a keynote speech by Chris Bentley,
Ontario’s Minister of Energy. The
awards were presented by Kristo-
pher Stevens, the Executive Director
of the Ontario Sustainable Energy
Association OSEA. In his reply, Ste-
fan Gsänger dedicated the Award to
all friends, colleagues and support-
ers who have helped to advance
community power all over the world,
and he thanked especially his col-
leagues in Ontario for their ground-
breaking work
ownership and possession of the
panels, prior to the December 31st,
2011 year-end therefore, qualifying
and exceeding the minimum 5%
safe harbor provision of Section
1603 of the American Recovery Re-
Investment Act. (“ARRA”). This
transaction enables Western Wind
Energy to be eligible for the 30% US
Federal Tax Free Cash Grant which
is estimated to be approximately US
$45 million. In addition to the US
$45 million tax-free cash grant,
Western Wind also qualifies for an
additional US $64 million of Puerto
Rican investment tax credits, which
are both marketable and monetize-
able.
These two sums total US $109
million of additional benefit that is
over and above the plus US $100
million Western Wind has received
and will be receiving for the King-
man and Windstar Projects, respec-
tively.
The Module Supply Agreement
was secured by a US $12 million
loan that will be repaid with the
project finance proceeds led by Ra-
bobank (New York office). There is a
finder’s fee of 5% payable to the
finder of this transaction, payable in
either cash or shares, in both cases,
not exceeding $600,000.
Jeff Ciachurski, President of
Western Wind Energy states, “this
is a monumental accomplishment to
secure the cash grant before the
expiry date and together with the
Puerto Rican ITC, add another $109
million of direct cash benefit to the
Western Wind shareholders. To-
gether with the previous $100 mil-
lion received and/or about to be re-
ceived from Kingman and Windstar
respectively, this brings the aggre-
gate amount of cash grants, tax
credits, and tax shield benefits to-
taling over a half a billion dollars. It
will only be a matter of time before
Bay Street analysts realize the full
value of Western Wind Energy. This
is another gold medal performance
by the Western Wind team, to close
off 2011. Western Wind Energy
wishes all of its stakeholders a
happy, healthy and prosperous
2012.”
ABOUT WESTERN WIND ENERGY
CORP.
Western Wind Energy Corp.
(OTCQX: WNDEF; TSX.V: WND )
trades in the United States on the
WIND - NEWS