Manitoba Hydro says it has decided to go with the project and will now begin the process of negotiating a power purchase agreement with the developer, Bowark Energy.

Bowark submitted three proposals that could provide 100, 200, or 300 megawatts of power.

Hydro spokesman Glen Schneider says they have not determined which permutation they intend to go with.

Bowark's 300 megawatt wind farm proposal at St. Joseph would cost about $750-million to construct, and would require 190 wind turbines.

Schneider says they hope to have a power purchase agreement in place in a couple of months, so that they can launch the project this year.

Meanwhile, Hydro's decision to purchase power from the proposed wind farm at St. Joseph doesn't sit well with the reeve for the R.M. of Franklin.

Airtricity Canada had submitted a proposal for a 100 megawatt wind farm near Dominion City.

Reeve Archie Hunter says he's puzzled by Hydro's decision to go with one project to provide all 300 megawatts of power.

He says the economic benefits that wind farms generate could have been spread over a multiple number of communities by selecting three different wind farm projects.

Gary Martens, spokesman with Airtricity Canada, says they are still moving forward on their wind farm proposal to get the project to where it's construction ready.

He says they intend to explore other options like selling wind energy to the U.S..

Martens adds they also want to have their project ready to go when Manitoba Hydro requests a second round of wind farm proposals in the future.

Manitoba Hydro is committed to purchasing 1,000 megawatts of wind power in Manitoba.

The site near St. Joseph, in addition to the St. Leon wind farm, already adds up to 400 megawatts of power.