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Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners announced that with its institutional partners, the company has entered into agreements to acquire new wind generation assets in California. The company will also increase its unitholder distributions to $1.38 on an annualized basis, representing an increase of three cents per unit per year. The assets to be acquired include:

• A 150 megawatt wind project in California purchased from a U.S. wind developer. This project is located in the Tehachapi region in close proximity to Brookfield Renewable’s existing 102 megawatt wind farm and benefits from a 24-year power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison. The new wind farm consists of 50 Vestas V90 3.0-megawatts turbines, the same model in use at the neighbouring facility, and at our wind farm in New Hampshire.
• An incremental 50% interest in our 102 megawatt wind farm in Tehachapi, California, bringing the company's interest to 100%, as well as the acquisition of a further 22 megawatts of additional operating wind generation capacity, being acquired from the company’s existing partner, the Coram Energy Group.

Brookfield Renewable will manage all of these newly acquired assets, which will be integrated into its North American operating platform. The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions and are expected to close in the first quarter of 2012. In recent weeks, Brookfield Renewable has completed construction of four renewable power facilities totaling approximately 280 megawatts of capacity. The facilities that have been commissioned include a 166 megawatt wind farm in Ontario, a 99 megawatt wind farm in New Hampshire, a 10 megawatt hydro station in Minnesota, and a 6 megawatt hydro station in West Virginia. The company also has received the environmental assessment certificate for a 45 megawatt hydroelectric project in British Columbia.