Shear Wind Inc. of Halifax has completed environmental impact studies for three wind generation projects it plans to build in Alberta.

"This is an extremely important step in the development of our extensive cross-Canada wind development pipeline," company president and CEO Mike Magnus said in a release Thursday.

The three Alberta wind farm projects are 200-megawatt Glenridge in southeast Alberta and 500-megawatt Coyote Ridge in southern Alberta, which will be developed in two stages, and the 100-megawatt Willowridge project in southwest Alberta.

"Glenridge will be our first Alberta project into construction and we are moving quickly to obtain all the necessary approvals over the winter months, with the expectation that we will have turbines up and turning by late 2010 in Alberta," Mr. Magnus said.

Shear Wind said the environmental studies, which took two years to complete, focused on soil, water and animal life at the different wind farm locations and as well as on socioeconomic conditions, aboriginal heritage issues and other cultural resource considerations.

The studies are being submitted to provincial and federal environmental authorities for approvals, the company said. The first submission will be on the Glenridge project, 100 kilometres north of Medicine Hat.

Shear Wind, which was founded in 2005, is also developing the $150-million, 60-megawatt Glen Dhu Wind Park near Merigomish, Pictou County.

The Glen Dhu project is slated to begin generating wind energy as early as December 2009. But it has run afoul of nearby residents who said recently that the park's wind turbines will be closer to their homes than Shear Wind had first indicated.

That discovery came after the company filed a detailed project description, including a turbine map, with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which has to approve the Glen Dhu project.

Shear Wind stock was trading Thursday for 35 cents per share on the TSX Venture exchange, down six cents from its previous close.