Claresholm Solar is located in the Municipal District of Willow Creek
Canada’s largest solar facility now soaking up the rays in Southern Alberta. (Credit: Zsuzsa Bóka from Pixabay)
Capstone Infrastructure Corporation (TSX: CSE.PR.A) (the “Corporation” or “Capstone”), along with our partner Obton A/S, is proud to announce that our 132MWac Claresholm Solar Project (“Claresholm”) achieved commercial operation and is now producing clean, renewable power.
Claresholm Solar is located in the Municipal District of Willow Creek and provided more than 350 full-time jobs in Alberta during construction, with peak site personnel reaching over 650 skilled workers. In addition, over the operational life of the project, Claresholm will provide on-going employment along with significant and stable long-term property tax revenue to the local economy.
The majority of Claresholm’s power and associated emission offsets are sold to TC Energy, under the terms of a power purchase agreement (“PPA”), and the rest of the electricity will be sold into Alberta’s wholesale power pool.
“I’m tremendously proud of our team for safely and successfully completing the Claresholm Solar Project, now Canada’s largest operating solar farm. This was an ambitious project with tight timelines, and Capstone, along with PCL and all our suppliers, had the added burden of overcoming the numerous challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which they passed with flying colours.” says David Eva, CEO, Capstone, “Working creatively and with unmatched dedication is integral to Capstone’s business philosophy, and we are extremely pleased to support TC Energy and the critical role that such corporate PPAs play in accelerating the transition to clean energy across North America.”
“Capstone has shown incredible dedication to bringing this asset into service. Through collaborative partnerships like this one, we are bringing clean energy to the Alberta market,” says Corey Hessen, Sr. Vice President and President Power, Storage and Commercial Marketing, TC Energy. “This PPA represents another step towards reducing our emissions and growing our power business across North America.”
“Having been involved in the project for close to four years, I am very happy that it has now been fully realized. It all started with a good idea and today after many ups and downs the project has been fully commissioned and will be an important power plant in Alberta, which we are extremely proud of being a part of,” says Mikkel Berthelsen, Partner at Obton A/S, “I want to thank all the great people that worked on realizing this project, in particular, Perimeter Solar for their early-stage development work, our contractor PCL, our off-taker TC Energy, our lenders ATB, Fiera, Telus, and of course, our partner Capstone.”
Source: Company Press Release