Transalta Begins Construction on $210-Million US Power Plant in Pacific Northwest

Calgary, AB. -- TransAlta has broken ground on the site of its $210-million US ($310-million Cdn) 248-megawatt (MW), natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant near Centralia, Washington. Washington Gov. Gary Locke joined Murray Nelson, TransAlta's executive vice-president Generation, at the plant site to dig the first spade into the ground for the Big Hanaford Project. The new plant will add 248-MW of electricity to the Pacific Northwest energy market and will be on the site of TransAlta's 1,340-MW Centralia coal-fired power plant, pending final approvals. The facility, which will begin operating by July 2002, will use the best available emission-control technology. "Growing demand for energy in the Pacific Northwest is creating opportunities for new power generation projects," said Murray Nelson. "By developing a new facility on a site where a power plant already exists, we can build and operate it in a way that is economical, efficient and environmentally responsible." "We are pleased that TransAlta is moving ahead with this investment in Washington," said Gov. Locke. "The citizens need low-cost, environmentally responsible power." The Big Hanaford project will bring TransAlta's total investment in the area to $1.1 billion US, including upgrades to the Centralia plant and mine in addition to construction on the natural gas-fired plant. Combined, the natural gas-fired plant and Centralia coal-fired plant will supply enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 1.7 million homes. "When construction on the new plant begins, we expect it will generate 200 new construction-related jobs for the local Centralia economy," said Rich Woolley, vice-president of Centralia operations. "That's in addition to the 350 construction jobs related to capital improvement projects to our Centralia coal-fired plant and mine. In total, more than 750 employees will work at the Centralia plant and mine." TransAlta continues to stand by the commitments it made when it bought the Centralia plant and mine in May 2000. These commitments include using 70 per cent local coal and investing $200 million US to install state-of the-art scrubber technology to make the plant one of the cleanest of its kind in North America. TransAlta is an international electric energy company with more than $7 billion in assets. The company is focused on achieving strong earnings growth and enhancing its competitive edge as a low-cost operator of generation and transmission assets, and a successful developer of gas-fired independent power projects. The company is concentrating its growth in Canada, the United States, Australia and Mexico. TransAlta owns and operates more than 8,000 megawatts of generation plus significant transmission assets in Alberta.