TransAlta's vision for wind power
Published Thursday July 2nd, 2009
Power Alberta company actively looking at growing its presence in Atlantic Canada and plans to expand Kent Hills project by bidding on NB Power's latest request for proposals
CALGARY - Two weeks ago, T. Boone Pickens, the legendary oil and gas tycoon from Texas, told an audience here he is looking to invest in wind energy.
While the comments from the 81 year-old billionaire oilman may have surprised some, executives from the 100 year-old energy firm TransAlta Corp. nodded along knowingly.
"Wind is no longer an exotic or fringe energy source," said Jason Edworthy, director of community development for TransAlta Corp. (TSX:TA). "We consider it mainstream."
From the company's headquarters in downtown Calgary, festooned with straw hats and cowboy boots days before the stampede, Edworthy and external relations manager Michael Lawrence laid out TransAlta's vision for wind power in New Brunswick.
Six months ago the firm's 96-megawatt Kent Hills wind farm began operation southwest of Moncton. TransAlta now plans to expand the project by bidding on NB Power's latest request for proposals, which could see the company add another 54 megawatts of wind energy to the province's grid.
"We're actively looking at expanding our presence in Atlantic Canada," Lawrence said. "It's certainly an incentive that New Brunswick has set a goal of 400 megawatts of wind energy by the end of 2010. It means there is a market for us in the province."
About $20 million of the $170 million Kent Hills project was spent in the province on transportation, cranes, contractors and transmission lines, he said. TransAlta also hired dozens of local workers for the project with some being hired by the company permanently.
Although the recession has caused slowdowns and delays in massive wind projects across North America, Edworthy said TransAlta is still at full throttle.
"We've been preparing for a rainy day over the last five or six years and so the economic downturn has not interfered with our plans," he said. "We have over a quarter billion in projects that are all internally financed."
After T. Boone Pickens spoke to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Lawrence said he was approached by members of the business community.
"They said things like 'It must be really exciting for TransAlta that [Pickens] is looking at investing in wind energy in southern Alberta,' " he said. "But we haven't had any difficulty financing our projects.
"Our track record in wind is tremendous," he added. "The business climate isn't really affecting us when it comes to expanding our wind projects."
TransAlta's renewable generation portfolio is now over 1,200 megawatts, including 248 megawatts of wind energy, 807 megawatts of hydroelectric, and 164 megawatts of geothermal energy. The company also has another 132 megawatts of wind generation scheduled to come on line in the next two years.
Last spring TransAlta - which also has coal-fired energy plants - struck a deal with France's Alstom to develop a carbon dioxide capture and storage project in Alberta.
But with enthusiasm for green energy growing, Edworthy said the company continues to have a strong focus on renewable energy such as wind.
In 1994, Edworthy - who has been involved in wind energy since the early 1980s -founded Vision Quest Windelectric Inc., a wind energy company, which was acquired in 2002 by TransAlta.
"I'm pleasantly surprised at the success of wind power," he said. "It certainly signals a shift when T. Boone Pickens says he wants to invest in wind."
Whether the shift is because of growing financial incentives, the desire for energy independence or environmental concerns, Edworthy said the shift is here to stay.
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