On December 26, 2017, Pattern Energy Group LP ("Pattern Development") announced completion of a $1 billion financing for the 300 megawatt (MW) Henvey Inlet Wind Project located on Henvey Inlet First Nation Reserve No. 2 on the northeast shore of the Georgian Bay in Ontario.
Pattern Development, a leader in developing renewable energy and transmission assets, and Nigig Power Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Henvey Inlet First Nation, are joint venture partners in the project - each with a 50% ownership interest.
This is the first wind power project on First Nation land, largest wind project in Ontario, largest on-reserve wind installation in Canada and the first to develop a First Nation Environmental Stewardship Regime under the First Nations Lands Management Act.
Henvey Inlet First Nation is an Anishinabek community comprised of three separate reserve properties. Henvey Inlet Reserve No. 2 is on the northeast shore of the Georgian Bay, 90 km south of Sudbury and 71 km north of Parry Sound. French River Reserve No.13 is 11km north of the Reserve No. 2 and includes Cantin Island.
Gowling WLG advised Henvey Inlet First Nation on this financing with a team led by Myron Dzulynsky and that included Rod Northey and Jennifer King (environmental), Elizabeth Burton (financial services), Jaimie Lickers (Indigenous law), and Jessica George (corporate), with the assistance of law clerk Michelle Axbey.