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