PCL starts construction on $700M Alberta solar project, Canada’s largest
By On-Site Staff
Infrastructure
The solar project spans roughly 3,300 acres in southern Alberta. PHOTO: Adobe Stock/SGr
Work has started southeast Calgary on a new solar farm that will cover more than a dozen square kilometres with 1.3 million photovoltaic modules.
Crews officially began work on the Travers Solar project June 23, according the project’s financier, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Being developed by Alberta-based Greengate Power Corp., the facility is poised to become the largest solar farm in Canada.
The project site outside Lomond, in Vulcan County, Alta., spans approximately 3,300 acres. Once complete, the myriad monocrystalline bifacial solar panels will generate enough electricity to power roughly 150,000 Alberta homes. The Travers project’s installed capacity totals 465 megawatts.
With PCL Construction at the helm, work on the project will employ around 500 workers and run through 2022.
Along with marking the start of construction on the new site, CIP announced a power purchase agreement with Amazon.com Inc. June 23. As part of its goal to power all global operations with renewables, the retail giant will purchase the lion’s share of the power generated at the new site through an offtake agreement.
The Alberta solar farm is scheduled to be brought online by late next year.
