Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What do you think of Northland Power?

Article Excerpt

Northland Power Inc., $17.25, symbol NPI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 116.5 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; www.northlandpower.ca), owns interests in 11 power projects, including natural-gas-fired plants and wind and biomass facilities. The company sells almost all of its power under long-term contracts with an average length of 13.6 years. Northland converted from an income trust to a corporation on January 1, 2011. The company now has 1,309 megawatts of power generating capacity after the recent start-up of its $677-million, 260-megawatt natural-gas-fired plant in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Northland has already sold this facility’s power under a 20-year contract. Northland is finishing construction on the first six of 13 solar projects that it has contracted under the Ontario Power Authority’s feed-in-tariff program. All six are now in the process of starting up, and Northland expects them to be operational by the end of this year. The company is now building its 60-megawatt McLean’s Mountain wind project on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. This $190-million…