Capstone Infrastructure Corporation and Obton have started commercial operations at the 132MW Claresholm solar farm in Canada.
Claresholm is located in the municipal district of Willow Creek in southern Alberta.
The project provided more than 350 full-time jobs during construction, with peak site personnel reaching over 650 skilled workers.
In addition, over the operational life of the development, Claresholm will provide on-going employment along with long-term property tax revenue to the local economy.
The majority of the project’s power and associated emission offsets are being sold to TC Energy, under the terms of a power purchase agreement.
The rest of the electricity will be sold into Alberta’s wholesale power pool.
Capstone chief executive David Eva said: “I’m tremendously proud of our team for safely and successfully completing the Claresholm solar project, now Canada’s largest operating solar farm.
“This was an ambitious project with tight timelines, and Capstone, along with PCL and all our suppliers, had the added burden of overcoming the numerous challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which they passed with flying colours.
“Working creatively and with unmatched dedication is integral to Capstone’s business philosophy, and we are extremely pleased to support TC Energy and the critical role that such corporate PPAs play in accelerating the transition to clean energy across North America.”
TC Energy president of power, storage and commercial marketing Corey Hessen said: “Capstone has shown incredible dedication to bringing this asset into service.
“Through collaborative partnerships like this one, we are bringing clean energy to the Alberta market.
“This PPA represents another step towards reducing our emissions and growing our power business across North America.”
Obton partner Mikkel Berthelsen said: “Having been involved in the project for close to four years, I am very happy that it has now been fully realised.
“It all started with a good idea and today after many ups and downs the project has been fully commissioned and will be an important power plant in Alberta, which we are extremely proud of being a part of.
“I want to thank all the great people that worked on realising this project, in particular, Perimeter Solar for their early-stage development work, our contractor PCL, our off-taker TC Energy, our lenders ATB, Fiera, Telus, and of course, our partner Capstone.”