A rendered image of the Travers Solar project (Photo courtesy Greengate Power)

By Justin Goulet

TRAVERS SOLAR

Vulcan County-area solar project finds investment partner

Feb 4, 2020 | 12:41 PM

VULCAN COUNTY, AB – Greengate Power Corporation has found a new partner.

They’ve entered into an agreement with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners for the Travers Solar project. Copenhagen will provide the capital funding for the renewable energy plan.

“Travers Solar is a 400-megawatt solar energy project. Once built, it’s expected to have a capital cost of $500-million and will provide a clean source of power to more than 100,000 homes,” said Jordan Balaban, Greengate’s Chief Financial Officer.

He explained that they worked alongside an investment bank, CIBC World Market to find an appropriate investor, which led them to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

“They’re one of the largest renewable energy infrastructure funds in the world,” Balaban told LNN, adding the company brings a lot to the project.

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“Number one, they’re bringing the capital into the project. They’re bringing some of their expertise in terms of operating renewable energy projects. They have expertise in constructing these projects, so they’re ensuring the success of this project with some of those attributes.”

READ MORE: $500 million solar energy project coming to Vulcan

Balaban said Greengate has a strong history working with Vulcan County. The company was behind the Blackspring Ridge Wind project in the region, which was completed in May of 2014.

Balaban said the community was very supportive during that time and the region has a “phenomenal solar resource” and is a “very sunny place”.

“In addition, there’s a large transmission line that goes through the County, so we were able to take advantage of some of that existing infrastructure,” he added.

He said there will be many benefits for the entire community during and once construction is completed.

“There’s a number of landowners in the project that will benefit from the lease revenues from the project once it’s operating, there’s going to be some significant property tax revenues for Vulcan County. During construction, there’s going to be 500 jobs, while it’s under construction, so there’s some significant economic opportunities for this County and for Alberta as a result of this project.”

The plan is for construction to start this summer and if all goes according to plan, Balaban said they’re expecting to be operational by the end of 2021.