TransAlta Announces Major Expansion

CALGARY -- TransAlta has announced plans for a 900-megawatt (MW) expansion of their coal-fired Keephills power plant located near Edmonton, Alberta, and the construction of a 248-MW gas-fired power plant on the site of their Centralia, Washington, facility. The company also announced a new $5-million Cdn ($3.3-million US) investment in Vision Quest Windelectric Inc. of Calgary, Alberta and plans to switch their Calgary-based corporate head office to wind power. Combined, the three projects will generate enough electricity for more than 1.4 million homes.

"These projects represent another major step in TransAltaÂ’s strategy to increase its generation capacity to 10,000 megawatts by 2002," said Steve Snyder, TransAltaÂ’s president and CEO. "Low-cost generation using a diverse range of fuels is what we do best. We are moving ahead to grow our business in the competitive markets of Alberta and Washington State. Both of these growing economies need more low-cost power."

"We anticipate a rigorous regulatory and environmental assessment of our plans and look forward to working with interested stakeholders," added Mr. Snyder.

Almost 75 per cent of AlbertaÂ’s power generation comes from low-cost, cleaner burning coal. TransAlta, AlbertaÂ’s largest generator, has decades of experience building and operating power plants in the province, giving it a competitive advantage in the development of this abundant resource.

Pending regulatory approval, the $1.8-billion Cdn ($1.2-billion US) expansion of the coal-fired Keephills plant will see the addition of two 450-MW generating units, bringing the plantÂ’s capacity to a total of 1,654 MW. The 900-MW Keephills expansion will meet all the environmental standards required of a new plant of its kind. TransAlta expects to commission the new units in early 2005.

The $210-million US ($310-million Cdn) Centralia gas-fired plant will add 248 MW of electricity to the Pacific Northwest energy market, pending regulatory approval. The new plant will be located on the site of TransAltaÂ’s 1,340-MW Centralia coal-fired power plant. The facility, which will be fully operational by July 2002, will use the best available emission-control technology.

TransAlta is investing $5 million Cdn ($3.3 million US) in Vision Quest to purchase 40 new Vestas V47 wind turbines. These turbines can generate 26.4 MW of electricity.

TransAltaÂ’s corporate headquarters will also be the first in Calgary to have its electricity needs met through wind generation from Vision QuestÂ’s Pincher Creek wind farm. TransAlta has signed a ten-year contract with Vision Quest to supply about eight million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This will require Vision Quest to install four 660 kW wind turbines in Alberta by July 1, 2001, adding about 2.6 MW of electricity capacity to the Alberta Interconnected System (AIS).