German energy company innogy has taken final investment decision and is progressing towards the construction of two solar plants in Alberta, Canada, with 57MW of capacity.
Image: innogy’s solar plant in Germany. Photo: Courtesy of innogy.
innogy said that the two solar plants the Prairie Sunlight II and Prairie Sunlight III, with 30MW and 27MW capacity respectively, are being built without subsidies from state. The plants will be located in Southern Alberta, near to the town of Vauxhall.
Construction of these plants is expected to begin in the second quarter of this year and commercial operations could start by this year’s end. When the solar plants’ operations begin, they will generate enough clean electricity to be supplied to nearly 12,500 Alberta households.
The solar plants were first developed by Canadian company Solar Krafte Utilities (Solar Krafte) and the project rights were then transferred to innogy earlier this month.
innogy renewables chief operating officer Hans Bünting said: “After last month’s announcement that we build our Spanish solar project Alarcos without state subsidies, we are continuing on this path with our two new Canadian projects. This underlines that solar energy is already competitive in several markets. Decreasing prices for equipment will further drive this development.”
Construction and operations and maintenance activities of the solar plant have been handed over to innogy’s subsidiary Belectric, which has completed nearly 2GW of projects globally.
innogy solar head Thorsten Blanke said: “Our first two projects in Canada are a perfect fit with our strategy to deliver utility-scale solar projects in promising markets, like North America, with high irradiance and a strong commitment to renewable energy. And this is only the beginning.
“In 2017 we joined forces with Solar Krafte and they are the perfect partner to build up a substantial solar portfolio in Canada. Together, we aim to develop solar projects with a total capacity of up to 1,000 MWp.”
Last month, the company had taken final investment decision to build a 50MW solar plant in Spain, whose construction is expected to begin this year. The solar plant will be located in the south of the city of Ciudad Real in the Autonomous Community Castilla-La Mancha. Once completed, the solar farm will be able to deliver enough electricity to power nearly 25,000 Spanish homes.
In September 2018, innogy began construction of the 349MW Limondale solar plant in Australia, located near Balranald, New South Wales.