Alberta To Host Canada’s Largest Solar Project

Canadian renewable energy company Greengate Power Corporation will be constructing a 400 MW (AC) solar power plant in Alberta as the ‘largest’ operating solar energy project in the country. The Travers Solar Project has secured approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) that found it to be in public interest.

According to the Government of Canada’s Natural Resources department, Sol-Luce Kingston and Grand Renewable Energy Park each with 100 MW capacity are currently the largest solar power plants in the country.

To be operated by Greengate, the 400 MW project will be developed in Vulcan County of Alberta for an estimated investment of close to $500 million. The company plans to break ground on project site in 2020, targeting full commercial operations in 2021.

The project has been under development since 2017 on close to 4,700 acres of land in Lomond village. Greengate plans to deploy around 2,500,000 solar PV modules on the project site with 166 inverter/transformer stations.

“We are very pleased to have received approval for what we expect will be Canada’s largest solar energy project and one of the largest in the world,” said Dan Balaban, President and CEO of Greengate. “We anticipate that Travers Solar will bring significant investment, employment and clean renewable energy to Alberta while strengthening the province’s position as a global energy and environmental leader.”

Greengate is majorly a wind and solar power plant developer and is currently pursuing developments of close to 1 GW of new solar and wind energy projects. According to information on its website, the solar power plants it is developing apart from the Travers project, comprises the 120 MW Lathom Solar Plant in Southern Alberta on private land, 9.5 MW Bassano, 15.5 MW Provost, 12.5 MW Wainwright and 16 MW Killarney Lake solar projects in East Central Alberta.