Capital Power awaiting approval of 1,000-MW Alta. combined cycle plant

EDMONTON—Capital Power Corp. and joint venture partner ENMAX Corp. expect to receive environmental approval for a 1,000-megawatt combined cycle power project in Alberta by the end of the year.

According to Capital Power, the proposed Genesee 4 and 5 power project is currently under review by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD), with construction expected to begin by mid-2015 pending approval.

Slated for the Genesee Generating Station, located about 50 kilometres west of Edmonton, the combined cycle units would run “state-of-the-art” natural gas turbines fed by a proposed pipeline designed and built by TransCanada Corp.

The project was granted approval by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) in August 2014.

Capital Power’s Genesee Generating Station is made up of three coal-fired steam units, which makes it “ideal” for additional generation, according to the company.

“(I)t will utilize the existing water intake (and) discharge structures and the existing transmission interconnection, which will connect to the new 500-kilovolt DC line and is within 500 metres of the project,” Capital power said in a statement

The company said other operating efficiencies will be achieved through the existing generation units at the site.

“With this project and the Shepard Energy Centre, Capital Power and ENMAX will jointly own two of the largest and most efficient generating facilities in Alberta,” Capital Power president and CEO Brian Vaasjo said in the statement.

“With the attractive economics of Genesee 4 and 5, it is best-positioned to be the next large natural gas-fired generation project to be built in the province and we expect to begin construction with shovels in the ground in mid-2015.”

Pending regulatory approvals, construction of the project would begin in mid-2015 with a targeted completion date of late 2018.