* Will result in C$1 bln investment in province

* Boralex, Algonquin each have 2 projects accepted

VANCOUVER , Dec 21 (Reuters) - Boralex Inc BLX.TO, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc INE.TO and Algonquin Power AQN.TO have been given the go ahead to develop small wind energy projects in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Government-owned power utility Hydro-Quebec announced late on Monday 12 winning projects in a 250-megawatt wind energy tender. The utility will now start negotiating 20-year power purchase contracts with these projects.

Construction of the wind farms will result in about C$1 billion ($980 million) being invested in the province. Winning bidders will spend about C$730 million on constructing wind farms, while another C$260 million will be invested in power transmission.

Canada’s provinces are in charge of their own green power development. The mostly French-speaking province of Quebec is generally regarded as one of the easier jurisdictions in Canada to get clean power projects off the ground.

“It’s a good place to be as Hydro-Quebec Distribution runs a well-communicated tender program,” said Jeff Jenner, chief executive of industry newcomer Sprott Power, whose 24 MW St-Philemon project was one of the proposals accepted.

In terms of the award, projects must start delivering clean power between Dec. 1, 2013 and Dec. 1, 2015. The accepted bids will receive an above-market price of 13.3 Canadian cents per kilowatt hour for their power.

To qualify for the award, projects had to be no bigger than 25 MW in size and include equity participation of at least 30 percent from local communities or municipalities. The tender was first put out in April 2009.

Boralex and Algonquin each had two projects accepted and Innergex one. Boralex’s stock was 3 Canadian cents higher at C$8.19 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning. Algonquin’s was up 2 Canadian cents at C$5.07.

Shares in Innergex, which originally submitted eight projects but had only one accepted, were 5 Canadian cents lower at C$9.75.