TransAlta Corp. has entered into a long-term renewable energy purchase agreement with Meta, formerly known as the Facebook company, for the offtake of 100% of the generation from its 200 MW Horizon Hill Wind Power Project, to be located in Logan County, Okla.
Under this agreement, Meta will receive both renewable electricity and environmental attributes. This long-term contract with Meta enables TransAlta to add the 200 MW Horizon Hill Wind Project to its growing U.S. wind generation fleet.
“Since 2020, Meta has supported its global operations with 100 percent wind and solar energy,” says Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “As our footprint grows, it’s key that we find strong partners who can help us continue to meet that goal by bringing new renewable energy to the grid. We are excited to partner with TransAlta to make this 200 MW project a reality.”
“TransAlta is excited to partner with Meta to make Horizon Hill a reality,” states John Kousinioris, president and CEO of TransAlta. “The delivery of clean, low-cost, reliable energy from Horizon Hill supports Meta’s sustainability goals and provides another excellent opportunity to expand our wind fleet in the United States. Horizon Hill brings us to 40 per cent of our target of adding 2 GW of new renewables to our fleet by 2025 under our Clean Electricity Growth Plan.”
The facility will consist of a total of 34 Vestas turbines with construction expected to begin in Q4 2022 and a target commercial operation date in the second half of 2023. TransAlta will construct, operate and own the facility. Total project capital is estimated at approximately $290 million to $310 million and is expected to be financed with existing liquidity and tax equity.
Over 90% of the project costs are captured under executed fixed price turbine supply agreements with Vestas, and executed engineering, procurement and construction agreements with Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives. The facility is expected to generate total annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of approximately $27 million to $30 million, including production tax credits. It is expected that Horizon Hill will remain a TransAlta project.
