CALGARY, Alberta, May 27 (Reuters) – TransAlta Corp TA.TO will spend C$123 million ($124 million) expanding an Alberta wind farm to boost its generating capacity from the renewable source 21 percent by 2010, the power company known for coal-fired plants said on Tuesday.
TransAlta said it will add 66 megawatts of capacity to the Summerview wind farm in the province's breezy south by adding 22 V90 Vestas Wind Systems (VWS.C Quote, Profile, Research) turbines.
That will lift the field's capacity to 136 MW, enough to power about 55,000 average homes, and increase the company's Canada-wide wind power output to 380 MW.
Construction is slated to start in the second quarter of 2009, with commercial operation planned for the first quarter of 2010, the company said.
Its other new developments include the 96 MW Kent Hills wind farm in New Brunswick, due to start up at the end of this year, and the 66 MW Blue Trail facility in Alberta, set for the fourth quarter of 2009.
The company said it has identified the potential to develop another 500 MW of wind power in southern Alberta, but is currently constrained by insufficient transmission capacity.
"Frankly, Alberta is dangerously behind almost all major jurisdictions in terms of transmission to support the reliability," TransAlta spokesman Michael Lawrence said.
The company's shares were off 10 Canadian cents at C$35.82 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
($1=$0.99 Canadian) (Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
