The winds of change have arrived at the Calgary headquarters of TransAlta Corporation, which will begin using wind to power its city office space.
The electricity company announced Monday that it has signed a 10-year contract with Vision Quest Windelectric Inc. of Calgary to supply power from its wind farm at Pincher Creek in southern Alberta.
Vision Quest will provide eight million kilowatt hours of electricity annually to TransAlta’s corporate offices on 12th Avenue and 1st Street S.W. TransAlta said it is investing $5-million in Vision Quest to purchase 40 new wind turbines.
TransAlta said it will also seek regulatory approval for a $1.8 million expansion of its coal-fired Keephills plant near Edmonton. The plan calls for the addition of two 450-megawatt generating units that will nearly double plant capacity.
TransAlta said the expansion, slated for early 2005, will be built to meet environmental standards.
The company also announced a third new project this week – construction of a new, $210-million gas-fired plant near Centralia in Washington state. TransAlta said the 248-megawatt facility, to be built at the site of an existing 1,340-megawatt coal-fired plant, will utilize leading-edge emission control technology when it opens in July 2002.
“These projects represent another major step in TransAlta’s strategy to increase its generation capacity . . .” said president and CEO Steve Snyder. “We are moving ahead to grow our business in the competitive markets of Alberta and Washington state. Both of these growing economies need low-cost power.”
