Hatch acquires Wind Resource Assessment consultants with projects across
Canada and the US

TORONTO , Jan. 26 /CNW/ - Global engineering consultants Hatch Ltd. has acquired the Wind Resource Assessment company, GPCo of Montreal and Salt Lake City , Utah, from the founding principals, and plans to expand its wind advisory services globally.

Hatch has been involved in more than half of the wind developments in Canada , while GPCo has specialized in wind measurement campaigns in both Canada and the US.

Hatch has 65 offices around the world and 8,000 employees. GPCo adds its 25 wind resource specialists to Hatch's Energy business unit.

"GPCo's resource skills, experience and technologies can be applied anywhere in the world," says Michel Carreau, a Hatch Renewable Power director. "We intend to introduce GPCo to our clients on six continents."

"All large industry and mining companies can benefit by adding wind to their renewable-energy mix," says Christine Sura of GPCo. "And we can help them with their decision-making process by providing key data on their potential resources."

GPCo was founded in 1994 and has installed meteorological towers, assessed and monitored wind power at more than 200 sites.

GPCo has also supported the development of wind projects of more than 1300 MW that are currently under contract with Hydro Québec, Ontario Power Authority, Nova Scotia Power, New Brunswick Power, Maritime Electric, and has worked with developers in 18 US states.

GPCo has developed several proprietary Wind Resource Assessment technologies that provide detailed analyses of wind reliability, force, and seasonal patterns, all of which GPCo stores in its extensive WinDB database.

Clients can access the database from the internet.

GPCo's expert crews can rapidly install 60-m towers and supervise the installation and instrumentation of 80-m and 100-m towers, either tubular or lattice in various climates, for accurate wind measurement. GPCo's expert analysts then prepare periodic reports on wind resource data, provide energy production estimates, micrositing layouts, and more.

For further information: Christine Sura, [phone] ext 263, www.GPCoEnergy.com; Tom Reid, [phone], www.hatch.ca