Keephills 3

The Keephills 3 power project is a 450-megawatt coal-fired generating plant that will be located adjacent to the existing Keephills power plant. The Keephills 3 plant is an important step in ensuring Alberta’s future power needs are met with a reliable, cost-effective and environmentally responsible source of electricity. It will also be Canada’s most advanced coal-fired facility.

Building on the success of the Genesee 3 project, TransAlta and Capital Power (formerly EPCOR) will be equal partners in the ownership of Keephills 3, with Capital Power responsible for construction. Upon completion, TransAlta will operate the facility and Capital Power and TransAlta will independently dispatch and market their share of the unit’s electrical output.

Keephills 3 will use supercritical boiler technology which features higher boiler temperatures, higher pressures, and a high-efficiency steam turbine. Because less fuel is used to produce the same amount of power, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per MW are lower than a conventional coal plant. Relative to the four Wabamun units being fully retired by TransAlta by 2010, the new plant will emit approximately 60 to 80 per cent less sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), mercury (Hg) and 24 per cent less CO2 while producing the same amount of power.

Work to prepare the Keephills 3 site for construction began in February 2007. Construction is expected to take four years with commissioning scheduled for the first quarter of 2011. The capital cost of the project, including mine capital is expected to be approximately $1.6 billion and anticipated to result in a peak workforce of up to 1,000 people in 2009.

Keephills 3 Project Schedule