Western Wind Awarded $78,334,713 Tax Free Cash Grant

TSX.V Symbol: "WND"
OTCQX Symbol: "WNDEF"
Issued and Outstanding: 62,731,056

VANCOUVER, July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Western Wind Energy Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary Windstar Energy, LLC, has been awarded a cash grant in the amount of $78,334,713.00 under U.S. Internal Revenue Code Section 1603 in connection with Western Wind's 120 MW Windstar Project in Tehachapi, California.  The U.S. Treasury Department has notified Western Wind that the payment will be made within seven days of July 9, 2012.  The amount of the award is $13,221,994 below the amount originally requested by Western Wind, apparently due to changes in the administration of the program by the Treasury Department which has reduced the suggested guidance on the amount of any developer fee which can be included in the 30% cash grant amount.  Western Wind's management believes that, notwithstanding the revised Treasury position on developer fees, the developer fee included in the cash grant application for the Windstar project was proper and is supported by appropriate analyses by our external counsel and tax advisors.  Accordingly, Western Wind intends to engage in discussions with the Treasury Department regarding the appropriate amount of the developer fee for the project and to request that the balance of original amount of cash grant requested be reinstated and paid.

ABOUT WESTERN WIND ENERGY CORP.

Western Wind Energy is a vertically integrated renewable energy production company that owns wind and solar generation facilities with 165MW of rated capacity in production, in the States of California and Arizona.  Western Wind further owns substantial development assets for both solar and wind energy in the U.S. and Canada.  The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, BC and has branch offices in Scottsdale, Arizona and Tehachapi, California.  Western Wind trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol "WND", and in the United States on the OTCQX under the symbol "WNDEF".

The Company owns and operates three wind energy generation facilities in California, and one fully integrated combined wind and solar energy generation facility in Arizona.  The three operating wind generation facilities in California are comprised of the 120MW Windstar, 4.5MW Windridge facilities in Tehachapi, and the 30MW Mesa wind generation facility near Palm Springs.  The facility in Arizona is the Company's 10.5MW Kingman integrated solar and wind facility.  The Company is further developing wind and solar energy projects in California, Arizona, and Puerto Rico.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"SIGNED"

Jeffrey J. Ciachurski
President & Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.  Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" under applicable securities laws, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements.  Words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "projects", "plans", "will", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "should", "may", "could", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.  These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and actual events or results may differ materially.  There are many factors that could cause such actual events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by such statements.  Such factors include, but are not limited to, the state of the Company's business activities and various factors discussed in the Company's audited annual financial statements and annual information form contained in the Company's 40F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and securities regulators in Canada.  Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and the Company assumes no obligation to update such information to reflect later events or developments, except as required by law.

SOURCE Western Wind Energy

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