The Canadian government will spend up to 60 million U.S. dollars in the next decade on two wind energy "farms" on the isolated Gaspe Peninsula of the Atlantic coast, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis announced Tuesday.

"The Government of Canada's support for the Carleton and L'Anse-a-Valleau wind farms is another example of our action to increase the supply of clean, renewable energy to Canadians," said Paradis, speaking at the World Energy Congress being held in Montreal this week.

The money, a grant from the national government' s ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program, will help to support the Carleton and L'Anse-a-Valleau wind farms in the province of Quebec, which are owned by Cartier Wind Energy Inc., a private company.

The L'Anse-a-Valleau wind farm consists of 67 turbines, capable of generating up to 100 megawatts of emissions-free electricity. The Carleton wind farm has 73 turbines and is capable of producing 109.5 megawatts of electricity. Running at full capacity, the two wind farms can generate enough electricity to power as many as 60,000 homes.

In the same day, Paradis also announced that the Canadian Government will invest an amount of money equivalent to 18.3 million U.S. dollars over seven years to Biocardel Quebec Inc. through its ecoENERGY for Biofuels program.

Biocardel Quebec Inc., located in Richmond, Quebec, will produce about 40 million litres of biodiesel a year. The project consists of converting vegetable or cooking oil or animal fat into biodiesel. Emissions reductions from biodiesel can be as much as 60 percent over regular diesel.

The Canadian Government intends to create and sustain local jobs and economic opportunities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions through these projects.

The 1.5 billion Canadian dollars (about 1.46 million U.S. dollars) ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program provides a one cent per kilowatt-hour incentive, with the goal of increasing Canada's renewable electricity capacity by more than 4,000 megawatts. That is enough electricity to power one million homes.

Another 1.5 billion Canadian dollars over nine years was granted to the ecoENERGY for Biofuels program.

The federal recession stimulus program also earmarked 2.4 billion Canadian dollars (about 2.33 U.S. dollars) to support the development and deployment of cleaner energy technologies and supporting infrastructure, including the Clean Energy Fund and the Green Infrastructure Fund.