FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – The New Brunswick government has approved the province’s first wind farm, to be located on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy.

Energy Minister Bruce Fitch said Friday that 11 windmills will be built at Dark Harbour on Grand Manan. They will produce 20 megawatts of electricity by March 2006.

“This is the first phase of NB Power’s long-term objective to acquire 100 megawatts from renewable energy by the year 2010,” Fitch said in a statement.

The project means all three Maritime Provinces are now involved in developing wind energy.

Prince Edward Island is the most advanced. Its Conservative government aims to have the province’s entire energy supply generated from renewable sources by 2015.

Prince Edward Island Energy Minister Jamie Ballem has also promised to significantly increase the island’s reliance on wind power by 2010.

Fitch said Friday that New Brunswick has started negotiations with Eastern Wind Power Inc. of Quispamsis, New Brunswick, for construction of the Grand Manan wind farm.

The company is a subsidiary of Western Wind, which has projects in Western Canada and the United States.

Fitch was recently at a wind farm in North Cape, Prince Edward Island, with the energy ministers from Atlantic Canada.

The ministers agreed that wind power would form a significant part of future energy developments in the region.

The announcement by Fitch was welcomed by David Coon of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, a nonprofit environmental watchdog.

“It’s an important first step,” Coon said. “But they need to go farther and faster.”

The Maritime Provinces are being forced to look at renewable energy now that fossil fuels are becoming scarcer and more expensive.

Fitch said New Brunswick will be about 125 megawatts shy of its energy needs by 2007.

Prince Edward Island will also be experiencing shortages by 2007, while Nova Scotia estimates that by 2010 it will have to add about 300 megawatts of capacity to its power grid.

In Maine, the Department of Environmental Protection this month approved construction of the state’s first wind farm, a 30-turbine project in Mars Hill designed to produce 50 megawatts of electricity.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine has set the goal of having 10 percent of the state’s power needs met by wind energy by 2010.