Answers to bidders' questions

Question (translated from French):
Section 4.1 of the Bid form ask to designate the wind turbines manufacturer. The manufacturer must meet a series of technical and financial criteria (Section 1.4 and 1.5, Chapter 1 of the Call for tenders document, among others). Can a RCM (over 50% of control) come to a mutual agreement with a manufacturer?

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Question (translated from French):
The wind turbines manufacturers had until last February 15 for filing the registration form. Please send us the names of manufacturers who can claim to be « designated ».

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Question (translated from French):
Given that they are underwritten by Québec citizens from different regions of Quebec, can the financial participation by fiscal funds such as Capital Régional and Coopératif Desjardins, Fondaction CSN and the Fonds de Solidarité FTQ be recognized as local equity, helping achieve a ratio of local participation in funding and control.

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Question (translated from French):
Where a project is located on private land, if a variant has an installed capacity less than its main offer:

1. Is it possible to reduce the size of the site proposed in the main offer?

2. Is it necessary to provide a new turbines supply agreement for the project's variant?

3. Is it necessary to provide resolutions of acceptance and support of the project's variant by local authorities?

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Question (translated from French):
As of March 4, 2010, the answer to question 13 has been revised. Please refer to it.

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Question:
In the case of an Aboriginal project, is there a circumstance under which an Aboriginal nation can hold less than 30 % of the capitalization of the wind farm and/or hold less than 50 % of control of the project and still have the project qualify as valid for the Call for tenders?

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Question:
Does this Call for tenders assume that proposed projects will be distribution-connected or is it possible to propose a transmission-connected project? Will a proposed project's weighting be affected by whether it is proposed to be connected to distribution or transmission?

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Question:
Section 1.1 of the Call for tenders document discusses the maximum project size and nation limit for the 250 MW block resulting from Aboriginal projects. In particular, the Section states "Beyond 50 MW, an Aboriginal nation can receive one or more additional projects provided that at least one other Aboriginal nation is involved." Please explain the implication of the statement. To be clear: if more than one Aboriginal nation is involved, is it acceptable to submit a 250 MW project?

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Question (translated from French):
Can a bidder who has entered into a electricity supply contract with Hydro-Québec following a previous call for tenders and received a reserved land area for the lands in the domain of the State in order to set up wind turbines make it part of the area which has been allocated, but not used, to submit a community or Aboriginal project to this call for tenders, provided that generation is subject to separate metering and independent to that existing electricity supply contract?

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Question (translated from French):
Section 2.2.10 of the call for tenders document states that the bidder shall submit an expert opinion confirming the validity of the results obtained and that this expert should have a minimum of five years of experience focused on assessment of wind energy potential and expected electricity generation. Must the expert be independent to the company, that is to say from a third party or can the requested expert advice come from an internal expert of the bidder, who has the five years pertinent experience required?

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Question (translated from French):
In the document « Call for tenders A/O 2009-02, in Section 1.3.1.2 Block resulting from community projects », it is mention that the local community is defined as including one of the following constituent: - An RCM; - A local municipality; - A cooperative where the majority of members reside in the administrative region where the community project is located; - A group of legally constituted natural persons held and controlled by members or shareholders mostly residing in the administrative region where the community project is located.

1) If several RCM and/or municipalities, from the same administrative region, want to come together to form an intermunicipale board, which would eventually partner with a wind developer, would this board be recognized as a constituent of the local community for a project situated in one or the other municipalities and/or RCM of this administrative region?

2) If yes, and given the last paragraph of Section 2.2.3 Interest in the capitalization and control of the project: does the intermunicipale board must be formally filed prior to the submission of the bid(s) or would proofs that steps have been for the establishment of the intermunicipale board be sufficient for the submission of bids on May 19, 2010?

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Question (translated from French):
In answer to question 40, Hydro-Québec Distribution states that « data collected using meteorological masts not meeting the total data recovery rate of 75 % may be secondarily used in the analysis. » We ask Hydro-Québec Distribution specify their answer to question 40 for various cases.

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Question:
If a potential bidder has already registered for the RFP and then the registered bidder sells its assets to another party, is a new registration required by the new party or can the existing registration be transferred to the new party?

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Question (translated from French):
After verification, here are a few clarifications as a follow-up to Question #46: the involved RCM has, for the municipality concerned by our project, the centroids for the units of assessment in digital form but does not have the boundaries of these units of assessment. The centroids are in a specific form and are included within the boundaries of the corresponding unit of assessment. They contain descriptive and identifying information on each unit of assessment involved. Given that the cadastral reform has still not been conducted at our site, that the information requested in section 3.2.2 “boundary of the unit of assessment” (HQ_unite_eval) in digital form does not exist, and that creating assessment units boundaries in digital form is a sizeable task, would it be possible to use the lot units boundary in digital form or simply not provide the requested layer of information?

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Question (translated from French):
1) Is a project of 25MW or less acceptable if it straddles two RCM?

If yes,

2) Must both RCM involved recognize the project in accordance with resolutions adopted to this effect?

3) Must the two municipalities participate in the capitalization and control of the project?

If yes,

4) Does participation in the project's capitalization and control can be done on a proportional basis of the number of MW installed in their respective territories?

5) Can the criteria of 30% (both in terms of capitalization than control) be met by the combined participation of both RCM?

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Question (translated from French):
For community projects, in calculating the capitalization of the wind farm, how will Hydro-Quebec consider a debt, subordinated to a first rank debt, whose amount is lent by one of the financial partners participating with equity voting? Can one of the partners make a loan to the project outside of the shares it holds without this being considered as part of the capitalisation from the partners?

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Question (translated from French):
In Appendix 9, annexe B, the values in the Future harvest yields from private forests table are stated as being: "volume after 40 years, in net apparent cubic metres". Is this volume per hectare?

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Question (translated from French):
To ease the graphical representation of the project (Appendix 12, Section 3.2.2), is it possible to replace the boundaries of an Unit of assessment (HQ_unite_eval) and file number or numbers of Unit of assessment (HQ_unite_eval_T) by the boundaries and unit numbers of lots and / or parts of lots?

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Question (translated from French):
Can promoters interested in submitting a project located in Gaspesia and to be connected to the transmission network count on the fact that some projects from the last two calls for tenders appear to be cancelled or abandoned and thus making capacity available on the Gaspesia transmission network? How can we know if a project was officially cancelled or abandoned and that the transmission capacity assigned to it is now available?

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Question (translated from French):
In the last call for tenders, HQ had provided a form (in Excel) to present the electricity price. Will a similar form be issued for the present call for tenders? And if so, when will it be available?

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Question (translated from French):
Does a project, in which a RCM and an Aboriginal community are involved and in which they hold jointly 30% of the project, will be eligible for the Community block? What happens if the address of the Aboriginal community is not on the territory of the RCM?

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Question (translated from French):
Two Aboriginal communities are respectively corporations domiciled within the territory of an RCM (Company A and Company B). Company A and Company B then form another company (Company C) in which Company A and Company B are shareholders. Does the Company C meets the definition of "local community" as defined by Hydro-Quebec?

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Question (translated from French):
a) If our exploratory study report proposes a possible date of initial energizing of the wind farm the earliest in 2014, is it still possible to guarantee commencement dates of deliveries in 2012 and/or 2013 for that project ?

b) In the event we propose a variant (with an different installed capacity or a different price based on a different voltage level at which the project could be connected to Hydro-Quebec's integrated system) for which we have not asked for an exploratory study, is it possible to guarantee commencement dates of deliveries in 2012, 2013 and 2014?

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Question (translated from French):
About the analysis of wind conditions, the call for tenders document indicates that the total data recovery rate at the site, which is, by the definition provided, the average recovery rate calculated for each meteorological mast must be at least 75% during the mandatory period of eight months measurement period at the site. However, a minimum of only one meteorological mast, for each wind farm offered, is required for wind assessment. If we have more than one meteorological mast installed on site to conduct the wind assessment, can we calculate the recovery rate with only one of these masts, provided that it meets the requirements of the call for tenders document? The additional masts on the site would be considered as additions to the analysis.

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Question (translated from French):
In Section 5.1.2 of Appendix 12, it is written: "the bidder must provide an adequate proof showing that a majority of the members or shareholders (Editor's note : of the cooperative) have their official domicile in the administrative region where the community project is located (copy of the driving licence)". Question : Must the cooperative be legally incorporated et have members duly recognized before bid submission?

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Question (translated from French):
Can a bidder submit option agreements that become valid upon expiration of those already signed with another proponent not awarded a contract in a prior call for tenders?

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Question (translated from French):
Can a Aboriginal wind project be developed in an administrative region where there is no Aboriginal nation or community recognized by the Government of Quebec?

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Question (translated from French):
Can an Aboriginal nation or community develop a project in an administrative region different from where this Aboriginal nation or community, recognized by the Government of Quebec, is located?

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Question (translated from French):
Is it possible to obtain from Hydro-Quebec Distribution the environmental data and the wind measurements already presented by a bidder in an earlier call for tenders, but which the project was not accepted?

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Question (translated from French):
In Section 2.2.10 of the call for tenders document, it is mentioned for purposes of establishing the total data recovery rate, the reconstitution of missing data from a calibrated instrument based on data from another instrument (calibrated or uncalibrated) is acceptable provided that a correlation coefficient equal to or greater than 0.95 is established between the two wind measurement instruments.

Can you specify the time period (for example, a total of 8 months, a sub-period representative of the shortfall, etc…) when the correlation coefficient should be calculated?

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Question (translated from French):
Following Question 31, it states that "A project equipped with a meteorological mast located at a distance no longer than 4 km of the nearest wind turbine is acceptable if a verification is made by a second meteorological mast located at a maximum distance of 2 km of the same wind turbine." Is Hydro-Quebec prepared to accept a distance of no more than 6 km, instead of the4 km currently accepted?

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Question (translated from French):
Does the submission of the registration form "Notice of Intent to bid" presented in Appendix 2 of the call for tenders documents and registration fees commit us to submit a bid? Are we required to submit a bid in May 2010? If yes, what are the penalties for not submitting? Is it simply a registration in order to be able to submit a bid on May 19, 2010?

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Question (translated from French):
Is a project with a meteorological mast located at a distance of 4 km from the nearest wind turbine acceptable if a second meteorological mast is installed at a maximal distance of 2 km of the same wind turbine? If yes, what are the conditions of validity (duration, correlation coefficients, etc.)

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Question:
Can one Aboriginal Community, which is part of a larger Aboriginal Nation, submit two projects of 25MW?

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Question (translated from French):
Starting from the principle that a corporation’s equity is made up of ordinary share capital (voting and participating), participating share capital (voting or non-voting, with or without interest), and accrued profit/losses less dividends paid and, in the event that the financial structure that was set up includes a portion of voting and participating shares and another portion in participating share capital, where a partner community must hold at least a 30% shareholder interest in the capitalization of a wind farm project in terms of shareholders’ equity, is the community’s participation and 30% interest in the voting share capital of a company in operation considered to be shareholders’ equity?

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Question (translated from French):
We received the results of our exploratory study, which contains a connection cost in 2009 dollars. To properly interpret the results in terms of our project’s competitiveness, we would like to obtain the kilowatthour (kWh) cost similarly to what was stated when the successful bidders for the 2000-MW call for tenders were announced (for instance, as provided on page 30 of exhibit HQD-2, document 1 submitted to the Régie).

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Question (translated from French):
If our company is registered as a bidder, can our community or Aboriginal partner use our user code received during registration to ask questions via Hydro-Québec Distribution's website?

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Question (translated from French):
Could Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie's exploratory study report provide us with details on the level of receptivity of the connecting zone?

For instance, could we be informed on the total integration capacity (in MW) available for the line indicated by Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie and/or for all the lines of the system for that zone?

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Question (translated from French):
In the exploratory study request form, which information has to appear on the location map of the project? For instance, is the location of wind turbines required?

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Question (translated from French):
Where a bidder proposes two projects that are adjacent and of 25 MW each, whereas the possibility that a bid present a variant conditional on the acceptance of another bid, can the exploratory study inform us of the capacity of the transmission system to receive 50 MW? If yes, how should we proceed to present the request for exploratory study or studies?

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Question:
In follow-up to Question and Answer 3, would a project that has a meteorological tower 3 to 4 km from the closest wind turbine and verification within 2 km of the closest wind turbine using SODAR or LIDAR be viewed as meeting the requirements of the article?

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Question (translated from French):
If the costs provided by HQT following a request for an exploratory study are expressed in project investment dollars, please provide the formula or factor used by HQD to convert this amount into dollars per year, which are added to the price of annual generation in order to compare the energy purchase cost assessed by HQD between two projects.

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Question (translated from French):
Can a project contain several switchyards ?

For instance, is it acceptable to present in a single bid, a 24MW project in which wind turbines are located in three non adjacent locations and are connected to the power system through three different switchyards ?

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Question (translated from French):
Q1) What are the requirements regarding the registration form for a private developer who intends to present several projects in the present call for tenders under different legal entities to be created (with several community and native partners)?

Q2) Will a developer who registers on his own behalf be authorized to present several bids with different community, native and private partners under legal entities to be created?

Q3) Is it rather the community or native partner who needs to register?

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Question (translated from French):
Does the wind data required in the present call for tenders be absolutely captured during the years 2009-2010? For example, is it possible to reuse the wind data presented in the 2nd call for tenders?

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Question (translated from French):
Does a community, as a partner, invest financially in order to participate in the capitalization and control of a wind farm? For example, could a community participate in 30% of the capitalization and control of a wind farm by investing only 1 dollar ?

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Question (translated from French):
The potential bidder intends to submit a 25 MW project and must pay an amount of $ 5,000 for the exploratory study. Should the wind turbines of the same project be located in three areas that require three different connections instead of one, must the potential bidder pay $ 5000 three times because there are 3 connections, or $ 5000 given that it is the same project. (e.g. for wind potential reasons on a project made of 12 wind turbines, 6 may be in municipality X, 3 others in municipality Y and 3 others in municipality Z, which would require connection on three different points). Is it a single exploratory study for a single project?

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Question (translated from French):
If we wish to propose more than one project of 25 MW located in the same area and all connected to a single point of delivery, how should we proceed to complete the request for an exploratory study?

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Question (translated from French):
We are planning to register for Hydro-Quebec Distribution Call for Tenders A/O 2009-02. If we are going to bid under different company names, (e.g. Company A is owned by Company XYZ and bids for community project 1 (25MW), Company B is also owned by Company XYZ and bids for community project 2 (another 25MW), and so on) do we need to submit separate Registration Forms for each Company A, B or can we just submit one Registration Form for Company XYZ?

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Question (translated from French):
In a case where the Supplier is owned by two owners, a community on one hand and a private company on the other hand, can the private company lend to the community to finance the community's participation in the Supplier? In this case, please confirm that the participation in the Supplier by the community is part of the community's equity and participation.

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Question (translated from French):
In a context of implementing its security, could a lender sell the project to a third party who is not a community? In other words, does Hydro-Québec accepts that, to the extent that a lender takes possession of the project for failure by the Supplier, the condition of continued participation of the community becomes obsolete? Otherwise, how can the community fund its participation in this project?

Answer (revised on 2010-03-04) :
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Question:
As of June 30, 2009, the answer to question 11 has been revised. Please refer to it.

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Question (translated from French):
Must a wind turbine manufacturer already selected in the previous call tenders (2000MW) resubmit the wind turbine modeling before July 1st 2009? Can the manufacturer certify by letter that he has already submitted the information requested in the present call for tenders and confirm that the proposed wind turbine still complies as of today?

Answer (revised on 2009-06-30) :
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Question (translated from French):
In Section 3.7.5, it is mentioned : "the information required for the modeling of the electrical behaviour of the wind energy technologies must be transmitted to the Official Representative by the designated wind turbine manufacturer no later than July 1, 2009".
Can a bidder pass on this information in the wind turbine manufacturer's name?

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Question (translated from French):
Please confirm that it is possible to connect a community or Aboriginal wind farm to an existing wind farm's substation.

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Question (translated from French):
As of June 8, 2009, the answer to question 2 has been revised. Please refer to it.

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Question (translated from French):
As a follow up to Answer 2, in the case where a potential bidder asks for an exploratory study with a model of a wind turbine which has received a prior notice of qualification regarding the modeling of the electrical behaviour of each proposed wind energy technology (« Avis préalable de qualification relatif à la modélisation du comportement électrique de chaque technologie éolienne proposée »), please clarify why it is necessary to submit to HQ an notice which HQ supplied itself? Also, it is not very probable that the wind turbine manufacturer commits today that the electrical characteristics are identical until 2014. The possible modification of the electrical behaviour is an issue which, logically, the bidder has to manage with the manufacturer. The objective is, after all, an exploratory study. Please confirm that if an exploratory study request is submitted for a wind turbine model for which HQ has already emitted a notice, it will not be necessary to supply to HQ a copy of its own notice.

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Question (translated from French):
"A community wind energy project is defined as a project that: - is recognized by the RCM where the project is located" The question is as follows: Can a RCM , by resolution, recognize more than one project of 25 MW on its territory?

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Question (translated from French):
We have a question concerning the case of the 250 MW block stemming from Aboriginal projects and the definition of "Aboriginal nation". Is there a distinction between the Aboriginal communities within the same First nation? For example, are Mingan (Ekuanitshit) and Uashat de Maliotenam representing two different Aboriginal nations or are they part of the only one?

Note that they each have their territory in a different MRC and they recognize themselves as being two different Aboriginal communities. On the other hand, they are both a part of the Innu (Montagnais) community.

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Question (translated from French):
"The wind conditions must be evaluated using at least one meteorological mast for each wind farm being proposed."

Is it necessary to understand that each bid has to use a different mast? Can the same mast be used for two independent bids which are near each other?

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Question (translated from French):
How is define the 2km limit between the meteorological mast and the wind farm ? Is it a distance between the mast and the nearest wind turbine? Between the mast and the center of the wind farm? Between the mast and a physical limit of the wind farm?

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Question (translated from French):
Q1) Please confirm that the exploratory study report prepared by Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie will be made available only to the potential bidder requesting such study and that the exploratory study request, including the potential bidder’s name and the wind farm project site, will be kept confidential.

Q2) In the event that a exploratory study request concerns a manufacturer and a wind turbine model for which information has already been provided to HQD in relation to the 2000-MW call for tenders, please confirm that Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie can carry out the exploratory study even if the manufacturer is not yet registered and/or has not submitted the same information again.

Q3)
a. Please confirm that the expression “additional variant” in Section 1.10.2 really means a third project variant as stated in Section 3.12 of the call for tenders document and that, as a result, an exploratory study at a cost of $5,000 will allow the potential bidder to obtain an idea of the feasibility of its project’s connection with three wind turbine models (main project and two variants), which will allow the potential bidder to direct its discussions with potential manufacturers as well as to eventually offer HQD as many technological options as possible in the same bid.

b. If the answer to 3 a) is no and considering that:

i) without a minimum number of orders for the manufacturers in call for tenders A/O 2009-02, the barriers to entry for manufacturers who did not bid on the 2000-MW call for tenders are very high;

ii) HQ received, studied and simulated the wind turbine models of at least three manufacturers for the 2000-MW and 1000-MW calls for tenders;

iii) the exploratory studies for a given site and capacity must include a significant common portion for different wind turbine models;

iv) the manufacturers will not provide their prices and conditions in the last months before call for tenders A/O 2009-02 is closed.

Therefore, would HQ agree to have the exploratory studies for a main project and two variants for the same site and same installed capacity but with three wind turbine models and for which all of the technical information has been filed for the 2000-MW call for tenders carried out for $5,000?

Answer (revised on 2009-06-08) :
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Question (translated from French):
I would like to know if it is required to be registered et have paid the registration fees in order to request an exploratory study for the connection of the wind farm.

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