Building community connections April 2010 Kilowatt Connection. Final days at TransAlta’s first coal-fired generating plant. On March 31, TransAlta’s Wabamun plant ceased The Wabamun site was “Many lived in the community of Wabamun and I’d like chosen for TransAlta’s to express my sincerest appreciation to the community operations after more than 50 years of supplying Albertans first coal-fired facility for its ongoing support and commitment to TransAlta with low-cost, reliable power. because of its proximity and our families.” to the large load centre in Edmonton, an adequate TransAlta is especially proud of the relationship Following the shut-down of the fourth and final unit, supply of cooling water and a significant deposit of developed between our company and the Village of TransAlta is now the first company in Alberta to some 50 to 60 million tonnes of coal located at the Wabamun over the years. With important plans for undertake complete decommissioning of a coal-fired nearby Whitewood Mine. tourism and development in the Wabamun area, we plant. Production from the Whitewood Mine ceased Wabamun’s team of hardworking and knowledgeable were pleased to discuss the options for some of the coinciding with the closure of the plant and maintenance and operations employees have been land zoned to TransAlta, west of the village, to be reclamation activities will begin shortly. reassigned and will be integrated reclaimed for future development. In November 2002, TransAlta announced plans to into other areas. “For more than 50 years some of “We saw reclaiming this land for future use as an easy implement a phased shut-down of the Wabamun our most talented employees kept the way to demonstrate our commitment to listening to plant. Unit 3 was shut-down in 2002 and Units 1 and 2 lights on in Alberta at the Wabamun our neighbours, “said Ralph Leriger, manager of were shut-down in December 2004. The decision to Plant,” said Steve Snyder, President Stakeholder Relations at TransAlta. ”And, we’re very decommission the Wabamun plant was made after a and CEO of pleased to do what we can to be a part of their plans to careful and thorough analysis which identified the TransAlta. ensure economic sustainability for their community.” costs to upgrade the 50 year-old facility to emerging environmental standards outweighed the benefits of continuing operation.
Commissioning Keephills 3 At the Keephills 3 plant, the commissioning Anticipated Key phase is now underway. Commissioning is the Milestones in 2010 process during which the hand over from January construction to operation takes place. • Start instrumentation, air compressor system As various parts of the facility are completed, control commissioning activities can begin. Until the completion of construction, both commissioning and February/March construction can be happening at once. When the • Boiler hydro entire facility has been given the final stamp of • Water treatment plant approval, we are able to declare commercial operation. commissioning begins Contractually, Capital Power is responsible for the April / May construction phase, and TransAlta the operational • Turbine lube oil flushing phase. However, given that these two phases overlap, Capital Power representatives will continue to work July/August Traffic and Road Safety onsite, reducing their involvement over several • Air balance tests Keephills 3 - Construction Traffic Schedule months after commercial operation is achieved. • First boiler fire The majority of the K3 construction traffic accesses the site from the east in the There are a number of critical activities that take place morning and travels east from the site in the afternoon. Maximum traffic flows are during commissioning, including: August / September 15 – 20 minutes in duration. The following outlines the peak flow traffic times. This • Steam blows information is provided so that residents may avoid use of the noted highways at • Complete system walk downs (inspections) September / peak times (if possible) to reduce travel time delays due to traffic volume. We • First energization of equipment October anticipate traffic volume to steadily decrease over the coming months as fewer • Running equipment for the first time and making • Synchronization to the grid workers are required onsite. and combustion testing adjustments Monday – Friday (a.m.) TransAlta and Capital Power monitor • Running equipment as part of the bigger systems October / December 6:30 a.m. - 7 a.m. employee and contractor driving behaviours • Unit controls tuning on roads and highways that access the • Performance test run of entire system to validate Westbound on Hwy 627 Keephills 3 site. To help ensure a high guarantees – enter site via RR40 standard of safety, residents are encouraged • Final acceptance of equipment (the power plant) Monday – Thursday (p.m.) to phone the K3 Stakeholder Hotline at 5:25 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. 1-877-636-7823 if they witness unsafe or Craig Beattie, Keephills 3 project manager for aggressive driving practices. TransAlta, confirms we are on track to achieve Eastbound on Hwy 627 commercial operation in the first quarter of – exit site via RR40 Bus use by workers continues to increase 2011.”Given our past successful experience in Friday (p.m.) and currently 17 busses transport almost 50 commissioning coal plants, as well as our strong per cent of the 1,600 workers to and from 3:25 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. working relationship with Capital Power, we are site each day. confident that commissioning activities will be Eastbound on Hwy 627 completed according to plan and within our projected – exit site via RR40 timelines,” he says.
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Building community connections
Highvale Mine Stakeholder TransAlta’s 2010 Safety Goals Meetings The health and safety of our employees and communities is of paramount importance at TransAlta. We believe that achieving zero safety incidents is possible. Our rigorous management system, based on the OHSAS 18001 framework, guides our way. Our signature workforce safety program, Target Zero, is a way of working that is integrated into all that we do. This belief extends to: • A work environment where all known hazards are eliminated or safeguarded • People who understand their jobs, are properly trained, are mentally and physically fit, and follow proper work practices so that safety is integrated into all tasks performed • An empowered workforce where individuals take responsibility for their own safety, the safety of those they work with, and the safety of the communities surrounding our operations In 2010, TransAlta’s coal & mining, renewables, gas and construction teams all have their sights set on achieving aggressive but achievable safety targets across the fleet. Overall, this year we are striving to achieve an almost 13 per cent improvement compared to our year end in 2009. The teams are aiming to reduce the total number of recordable incidents to 52 compared to 56 in 2009. “We are getting back to the basics to improve our safety performance in 2010 TransAlta currently has to ensure that everyone goes home safely Over the past year there has been a steady increase in at the end of each day,” said Rod Kause, 412 MW of projects in activities at Pit 4 of the Highvale Mine. We are aware that director, Corporate Environment Health & development: 46 MW for with this ramp up in activity, there have been questions Safety. “Each team is committed to driving a true safety culture in order to Keephills 1 and 2 uprates; and concerns voiced by our neighbours. achieve outstanding results this year.” 225 MW for Keephills 3; 18 We are planning to hold a stakeholder information meeting to share our mine plans, as In order to decrease the number of MW for Bone Creek hydro well as to take the opportunity to discuss any concerns you may have.We intend to hold injuries by our contractors during outages the meeting at the Jack Pine Community Hall this spring. We will provide public notice in 2009 extra efforts are in place for project and 123 MW for when the date and time are confirmed. aggressive pre-outage safety orientation Ardenville and Kent Hills and training. Significant work is also TransAlta is committed to open dialogue with our stakeholders and are looking forward Expansion wind projects. to meeting with you. To receive more information about the stakeholder meeting, or for underway to educate and train all new any further information about our activity at the Highvale Mine, please call employees as part of their integration 1-877-636-7822. into TransAlta’s safety culture, tools and polices and procedures. As of March 3, 2010, there have been only six recordable incidents. “By working together and remaining focused we can maintain this positive trend and celebrate our best first quarter performance ever,” added Kause.
Project Pioneer: How Will it Work?
Project Pioneer is among the world’s largest fully-integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives within the power sector. It will be a near-commercial scale demonstration of all elements of the CCS chain through a unique combination of partners, technology and integration. How will Project Pioneer Work Project Pioneer will be among the world’s first projects to test the full life cycle of CCS. Operating by 2015, Project Pioneer will be integrated with Keephills 3 (K3) – a 450 MW supercritical coal-fired plant jointly owned by TransAlta and Capital Power. On Oct. 20, TransAlta celebrated Located 70 kilometres west of Edmonton, Alberta, K3 is ideally situated overtop potential saline aquifer storage sites and near large, oil fields suitable for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). For 2010, the key focus for Project 100 years of incorporation. Pioneer is the completion of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) work. Today we are positioning our We look forward to meeting with you early this summer at our project open houses. For more information company for the next 100 years. about Project Pioneer, and dates of these open houses, please visit www.projectpioneer.ca
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TransAlta’s Renewable Kent Hills Wind Farm Expansion Portfolio Announced As TransAlta is built on a century of experience, we are aware of the importance in planning for the future. In the coming years, we plan to dedicate On January 11, TransAlta the majority of our planned growth capacity to renewable power and maintain a was awarded a 25-year singular focus on generation to satisfy the growing demand for clean, reliable and power purchase agreement competitively priced electricity. (PPA) to provide an additional 54 MW of wind One important example of this focus was the acquisition of Canadian Hydro Developers power to New Brunswick in 2009. Through this acquisition TransAlta has increased its wind portfolio from 15 to 22 Power Distribution and per cent of total power produced. Canadian Hydro brings to TransAlta a unique set of Customer Service quality renewable assets, expands its renewable focus across Canada and provides a pipeline Corporation through an for growth opportunities. expansion of our Kent Hills wind farm in New • This year, TransAlta will operate 1,000 MW of wind energy Brunswick. • The company is Canada’s largest producer of wind power, operating over a third of “We are pleased to have Canada’s installed wind capacity been awarded another • TransAlta now has wind assets from coast to coast in Canada and in nearly every long-term PPA with New province Brunswick Power, and In Alberta, our most current renewable energy projects are wind farms in the southern continue our strong part of the province. The Summerview 2 wind farm achieved commercial operation in relationship with them,” said Steve Snyder, TransAlta’s February of this year and the Ardenville wind farm is scheduled to come online in President and CEO. “With the completion of the Kent early 2011. Hills expansion next year, we will have over 1,000 MW of wind power and over 2,000 MW of renewable energy in operation across Canada and the United States.” Under the agreement, TransAlta will expand its existing 96 MW Kent Hills wind facility which began commercial operations in December 2008. The 18-turbine expansion will be located just south of the current Kent Hills wind facility which is southwest of Moncton, NB. The facility will use V90-3.0 MW wind turbines purchased from Vestas. TransAlta expects construction to commence in early 2010 and the facility to be in service by the end of 2010. Once complete, the facility is expected to provide 160,000 megawatt hours per year. The project is subject to regulatory and environmental approvals and is expected to begin commercial operations by the end of 2010.
Capture Storage Alstom Canada, Project Pioneer’s technology Two processes will be tested – geological sequestration and EOR. partner will complete a large-scale test of its chilled • Permanent Sequestration. The Wabamun Area Sequestration study ammonia process to capture one megatonne of CO 2 has confirmed Project Pioneer is well-situated to large volume saline annually from K3. The capture process includes aquifers, providing significant and safe CO storage capacity. three steps: 2 • Secondary Markets. Alberta is a world leader in oil reserve extraction • Flue Gas Cooling. The flue gas from the boiler and Project Pioneer is located within 40 kilometres of the large will be cooledto improve absorption of CO . 2 Pembina oilfield - ideal for EOR opportunities. • CO Absorption. Using an ammonium 2 TransAlta plans to keep stakeholders informed of our progress on this carbonate solution the CO will be absorbed to 2 project through articles in Kilowatt Connection, regular updates to the form an ammonium bicarbonate solution. website www.projectpioneer.ca and open houses in the upcoming months. • High-Pressure Regeneration. The ammonium Should you have a question relating to Project Pioneer, please contact us at bicarbonate solution will be pressurized and [email protected]. further treated to separate Transport CO2 for transport. The remaining ammonium bicarbonate removed from Two pipelines – one to storage (sequestration) and one to oilfield injection. the CO2 will be returned for use again in
the CO2 absorption process. • Parallel transport systems. Project Pioneer will test
two storage methods requiring two CO2 transport lines with no additional compression required. • Final routing to be determined. Both pipelines will be about 20 to 40 kilometres in length; completion of the FEED study will confirm final routing.
2.8 km
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In Western Canada, TransAlta TransAlta in Your Community now has 5,308 MW from 44 facilities in five Powering Communities for Success Helping the Paul resources (biomass, coal, gas, TransAlta’s Community Investment program is one way that we show our commitment First Nation to our communities’ long-term sustainability. We demonstrate our support through experience the wind and hydro). monetary investments, and employee/retiree volunteerism. All support fits under at least one of our four funding focus areas: arts and culture; education and leadership; Olympic spirit environment; and health and human services. The spirit of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games touched members of the Paul First Nation, when nine of its youth ran in the Olympic Torch Relay. On January 13, the team of runners got on a bus at 6 a.m. to travel to Vegreville, Alberta. From there, the group ran one kilometre with the torch. Along the route they were joined by drummers, dancers, family and friends. The supporters came out to cheer them on, recognize the efforts they put in to participate and inspire others, as well as to celebrate their communities’ participation in the event. The team was one of only two youth groups in Alberta that were chosen to be a part of the relay. TransAlta proudly played a role in making this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity a reality by contributing to the group’s trip expenses. The Paul First Nation has been an important neighbour of TransAlta’s for generations. TransAlta Supports Red Cross Haitian TransAlta’s United Way Relief Efforts campaign puts over $120,000 back into your com- As news spread detailing the devastation to the Caribbean country of Haiti, munity TransAlta immediately stepped up to Throughout October, TransAlta employees, retirees and contractors across Canada and support international relief efforts. in Centralia, Washington, participated in the 2009 United Way campaign. TransAlta made an initial donation of C$25,000 on Jan. 15 to the Canadian People came together to raise awareness and funds to help strengthen communities Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, and improve lives where we operate and live. TransAlta staff working in and near our and committed to match employee and Lake Wabamun operations raised $63, 317. This was then matched by TransAlta, TransAlta retiree donations. The meaning $126,665 will be invested back into your community through United Way. generous donations from employees and Overall, $1.4 million was raised by TransAlta staff and will be invested back into the TransAlta retirees poured in, and we communities in which the company operates. were able to make a total corporate donation of $59,489 to the Canadian Red Cross.
100 Years, 100 People The early years On Oct. 20, 2009 TransAlta celebrated the 100th anniversary of its incorporation. Originally known as the Calgary Power Company, the company produced its first megawatt of electricity on May 21, 1911 when the Horseshoe hydro-electric plant was commissioned. Throughout all these years, TransAlta has benefitted from the dedication and passion of its employees. To recognize their efforts and celebrate their contributions, TransAlta will be recounting Years the stories of past and current employees who built and shaped our company to what it is today.
1909 – 1919: TransAlta’s founding father 1920 – 1929: A decade of promise 1930 – 1939: The dirty thirties William Maxwell Aitken – was born in New Brunswick, W.R. “Bill” Wolley-Dod – was born in Calgary in 1896. Fred Gaskell – was one of Calgary Power’s early inventive Canada in 1879. He was a lawyer by training, but later He was a surveyor and an explorer who spent an entire geniuses. He was born in 1898 in Newport, England. His became a financier, writer, publisher and politician. In winter completing the initial survey of the Spray Lakes family moved to Canada when he was only nine years 1909 under the umbrella of his Royal Securities Company, area in the early 1920s, living in a tent and coming down old, settling in Okotoks, south of Calgary. he founded Calgary Power Company, Limited. As the to civilization only for supplies. Even though the Spray company’s first president, Aitken concentrated early Lakes Hydro Development was built in late 1951; Gaskell started his lengthy career with Calgary Power as efforts on the development of the Horseshoe Falls hydro surveying of the area took place many years before an electrician in 1926. In 1939, he designed and built the station. construction. Wolley-Dod’s team included J.E. Spurling , company’s first time control devices at the Ghost Plant. “chief” of the expedition, R.E. Pugh, A.E Roebotham, G.B. The time control devices kept electric clocks on time by In 1916, while living in England, Aitken served as Minister Pusey and cook “Scotty” Lyall. automatically adjusting the generator speed at the plant. of Information and Minister of Supply under British Prime Years later, Gaskell refined his invention and expanded its Ministers Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. He was Wolley- Dod retired in 1963 after 40 years with Calgary use to the other hydro plants. raised to the British House of Lords, with the title First Power. He died in 1974 at the age of 78. Baron of Beaverbrook. He died in 1964 in Surrey, England His ingenious mind kept him busy. He also invented a at the age of 85. phone board at Seebe and a system load control, which electronically regulated the system load to keep the frequency correct. Gaskell retired as Seebe plant superintendent in 1965.
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