Poplar Hill

Generating Plant

The 45-megawatt Poplar Hill Generating Plant near Grande Prairie provides northwest Alberta with needed transmission system support and is an important source of additional electric energy for the Alberta grid.

The gas-fired facility which began operating in late 1998 was developed in response to a competitive Request for Proposal. This resulted in Poplar Hill being selected as the lowest cost alternative to supporting transmission facilities in a region of the province requiring system voltage support. 

Poplar Hill meets northwest Alberta's energy needs and provides additional capacity for the grid using an innovative design. This design resulted in the plant winning the McGraw Hill Power Plant of the Year Award for 2000. The plant can operate as a synchronous condenser that allows the plant's generator to be disconnected from the turbine to provide voltage support when needed. When the grid needs additional capacity, the turbine can be instantaneously reconnected to the generator. 

ATCO Power completed a 15-year, $150 million non-recourse financing through the Royal Bank of Scotland of its ownership interests in six independent Alberta power projects. The financing covers power plants totaling almost 300 megawatts of capacity at Primrose, Poplar Hill, Valleyview, two at Rainbow Lake and the Oldman River hydroelectric project. 

Further Documents

Press Release
Monday, May 15, 2000
Friday, Jan 29, 1999