TransCanada Corporation announced it has acquired the eighth Ontario solar facility from Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. The newly built Liskeard 1 facility has a generating capacity of 10 MW and is located in northeastern Ontario in the New Liskeard region.
The acquisition of Liskeard 1 is part of a larger purchase agreement with Canadian Solar signed in 2011, bringing TransCanada’s investment in its Ontario solar program to over $450 million. The new facility has now started generating electricity under a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Ontario Power Authority.
“We are pleased to have completed the purchase of this additional solar facility in Ontario,” said Russ Girling, president and chief executive officer of TransCanada. “This acquisition continues to show our commitment to maintaining a diverse portfolio of generating capacity in Ontario which includes 958 MW of gas fired generation and our combined interest of about 40 percent in the 6,200 MW Bruce nuclear facility.
Girling adds that TransCanada is the largest private power producer in the province of Ontario and that regardless of the size or type of project, environmental responsibility is a priority. To protect people, property and the environment, Girling noted that TransCanada is at the forefront of research and in adopting new technologies to build, maintain, monitor and operate the company’s energy infrastructure in a safe and environmentally sustainable way.
TransCanada’s long-term dedication to investing in emission-less and high-efficiency energy sources, research and development and environmental initiatives was recently acknowledged by the Carbon Disclosure Project with an improved ranking for its disclosure of carbon emissions and mitigation of the business risks of climate change. TransCanada has also been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for 13 consecutive years and earned a place on the DJSI North America Index in 2014.
To date, the company has invested over $5 billion in emission-less energy sources including the largest wind farm in New England and 13 hydro power facilities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont, as well as solar projects and Canada’s largest wind farm development in Quebec. TransCanada is a partner in Bruce Power, Canada’s first private nuclear generator that currently produces 6,200 MW of emission-free electricity in Ontario. TransCanada also specializes in building highly efficient natural gas-fired power plants that are helping North America’s transition to a less carbon-intensive electricity supply mix.