Green power company buys half-built oilsands power plant

CALGARY — A small green power company says it has closed a deal to buy a half-built oilsands power plant in northern Alberta halted 16 months ago by international oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. Kineticor Resource Corp. says it has partnered with Ontario pension fund OPTrust to buy the 690-megawatt plant, one of the remaining vestiges of an Alberta oilsands building boom stalled by crashing global oil prices and doubts about pipeline access to markets. CEO Andrew Plaunt says Kineticor plans to finish and repurpose the facility, which will use natural gas, as a standalone power plant to help replace coal power that the province has vowed to phase out by 2030. The Calgarybased company says OPTrust — the pension plan for unionized Ontario public sector employees — has agreed to invest $125 million in Kineticor.