Atco unveils plans for new gas-fired Heartland power plant
JOSEPHBURG — As powergeneration firms eye a huge potential market for new electricity, Atco Power has jumped to the head of the queue with plans for a 400megawatt, gas-fired plant for the Industrial Heartland area of Strathcona County that could be operating by 2017.
The Alberta Electric System Operator estimates that 2,200 MW of coal-fired power plants will be retired prior to 2022. Add that to industrial and population growth, and the industry believes Alberta will need 7,000 MW of new power over the next decade — most coming from natural-gas-fired turbines, co-generation units at industrial facilities and new wind farms.
Calgary’s Enmax is completing an 800-MW power plant in Calgary that is a joint investment with Edmonton’s Capital Power, and Capital itself plans an 800-MW, gasfired facility on the site of its Genesee coal-fired plant south of Wabamun Lake.
Meanwhile, TransAlta Utilities is working with U.S.-based MidAmerican Energy on an 800-MW, gas-fired plant at its Sundance power plant site on Wabamun Lake.
In May, Atco Power disclosed it had similar plans, but its proposal was still under study. On Thursday at a technical open house, Atco said it plans to apply to the provincial regulators within a couple of months, and expects a decision by mid-2014 from the Alberta Utilities Commission and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. A public hearing would be held if needed.
With construction requiring 33 months, the Heartland Generating Station would be operating by late 2017, said David Carmichael, Atco’s senior manager for business development.
“We have purchased a 140-acre site but will need just 30 acres of it, so the farmer will be able to continue using the land around the plant.”
Water will be recycled throughout the site, and the latest technology used to reduce emissions and noise.
While Carmichael did not have a cost estimate for the project, the new 800-MW Sheppard plant in Calgary is budgeted at $1.4 billion. He also could not comment on possible future expansion at the site. Capital, for example, says it might build its facility in two stages of 400M Weach to match market demand.
Carmichael said the new plant will be a combinedcycle facility using a natural gas-fired turbine — much like a jet engine — to produce about two-thirds of the electricity. The hot exhaust will be captured and used as high-pressure steam to turn a steam turbine, which will provide the other one-third.
The site is adjacent to a natural gas supply line, and just three kilometres from an electrical transmission line.
Atco will provide a project update later this month to local residents and is consulting with area landowners.
The firm estimates the plant will need 35 full-time employees to operate the facility, and will create up to 400 jobs during construction.
The site is north of Highway 15, just east of the Shell complex and south of the B.A. Energy and Meg Energy projects. It is adjacent to Atco’s salt cavern storage operations, which are also set to be expanded. Atco Energy Solutions is proposing an additional four caverns, which are scoured from deep salt formations and used to store natural gas and other hydrocarbons under high pressure.