Finavera Wind Energy Inc. is a publicly traded wind energy development company based in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Formerly named Finavera Renewables Inc., the company develops wind farm

Wind farm

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

s in Canada and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

History

The company was founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 2003. From beginning of 2007, its shares are publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange

TSX Venture Exchange

The TSX Venture Exchange is a stock exchange in Canada. It is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. All trading through the Exchange is done electronically, so the Exchange does not have a "trading floor"...

.

On 4 April 4 2005, Finavera acquired a 10% stake in the wave energy technology company AquaEnergy Group, and in 2006, it acquired rest of the shares in AquaEnergy. AquaEnergy became a wholly owned subsidiary of Finavera and was renamed Finavera Renewables Ocean Energy. It developed the AquaBuOY wave energy conversion technology with plan to install the converter in Makah Bay off the coast of Newport, Oregon

Newport, Oregon

Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868...

. However, in 2010 Finavera Renewables Ocean Energy was sold and Finavera concentrated to the wind energy.

Operations

The company is developing four wind projects in the Peace Region in Northern British Columbia that will provide up to 301 megawatts (MW) of electricity which is approximately consumption of 75,000 households. The program includes of the Tumbler Ridge, Wildmare, Meikle, and Bullmoose wind farms. The program is to be completed in 2015. In March 2010, BC Hydro

BC Hydro

The BC Hydro and Power Authority is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia generally known simply as BC Hydro. It is the main electric distributor, serving 1.8 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the Kootenay region, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis...

 awarded Finavera with four 25-year electricity purchase agreements under its 2008 Clean Power Call. For financing this program, Finavera has partnered with GE Energy with the signing of a $7.5 million Joint Development Agreement.

Finavera is a minor partner in the 105 MW Cloosh Valley wind project in Ireland. 90% of the project is owned by SSE Renewables

SSE Renewables

SSE Renewables is a renewable energy subsidiary of Airtricity. Airtricity was founded in 1997 in Ireland and now is a renewable energy company owned by Scottish and Southern Energy...

, a subsidiary of Scottish and Southern Energy.