Solar Krafte announces construction of Canada's first non-subsized utility-scale solar farms

CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solar Krafte Utilities Inc. (Solar Krafte) announces the construction of two utility-scale solar farms in Alberta with a total capacity of 57 megawatts peak (MWp), after final investment decision (FID) was announced by Solar Krafte's German utility partner, innogy SE, yesterday.

These are the first utility-scale solar farms to be built in Canada without government power contracts or subsidies.

The two large-scale solar farms, Prairie Sunlight II (30 MWp) and Prairie Sunlight III (27 MWp), are located in Southern Alberta, near Vauxhall. After commissioning, planned for Q4 of this year, the solar plants will produce enough green energy to supply 12,500 Alberta homes. Competing without government subsidies, and directly against conventional generation, these solar generators will help reduce, not increase, Alberta electricity prices.

Jeff Thachuk, CEO of Solar Krafte, said: “These solar farms represent the vanguard of the Solar Krafte Prairie Sunlight Alberta buildout, and an exciting milestone for the Canadian energy sector."

A 100% Canadian owned company, Solar Krafte is the largest developer of solar power plants in Alberta, with 1.3 gigawatts of development currently underway (nine distributed generation projects totaling 282 megawatts and three transmission grid connected projects totaling 1,000 megawatts).

Southern Alberta boasts Canada's highest solar resource. Mark Burgert, president of Solar Krafte, said: "The peak matching production profile of solar generation is the ideal fit for Alberta's electricity grid. We have plenty of good oilsands cogeneration and other thermal that performs well in winter, but cost effectively matching Alberta's heavy irrigation and air-conditioning summertime loads is something that solar does exceptionally well."

innogy’s subsidiary BELECTRIC, with nearly two gigawatts of completed projects globally, will be responsible for construction, operation and maintenance of the solar farms.

Thorsten Blanke, Head of Solar at innogy SE, said: “Our first two projects in Canada are a perfect fit with our strategy to deliver utility-scale solar projects in promising markets, like North America, with high irradiance and a strong commitment to renewable energy. And this is only the beginning. In 2017 we joined forces with Solar Krafte and they are the perfect partner to build up a substantial solar portfolio in Canada. Together, we aim to develop solar projects with a total capacity of up to 1,000 MWp.”