Q4 2023
Highlights:
Amazon and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: Amazon has entered an agreement with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to purchase 415 megawatts (MW) of wind energy capacity from Buffalo Plains. At the time of the announcement, the project is expected to be the largest onshore wind farm in Canada, at a total project capacity of 495 MW. The deal is also one of the biggest PPAs ever in Alberta by capacity. Located in Vulcan County, Alberta, Buffalo Plains is planned to come online December 2024.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q4 2023 DEAL TRACKER
Q3 2023
Highlights:
West Fraser and Pattern Energy announce 10-year agreement: U.S. renewable energy developer Pattern Energy has commenced the operations of its first project in Alberta, the Lanfine Wind power project and announced its entry into a 10-year PPA with West Fraser, an integrated wood product company. Through the deal, West Fraser will acquire half of the facility’s 150-megawatt (MW) capacity to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46.2 per cent by 2030. The project, located in the Town of Oyen, had approximately 250 workers on-site during peak construction and has the capacity to power 30,000 homes in Alberta annually.
Gibson Energy and Capstone Infrastructure announce 15-year agreement: Gibson Energy Inc. has entered a 15-year PPA with Capstone Infrastructure and Sawridge First Nation. The agreement involves Buffalo Atlee 2 and 4, which combine for 26 MW of wind capacity.
Cenovus Energy in VPPA at Forty Mile: Cenovus Energy has emerged as the purchaser of 180 MW of the 280-MW Forty Mile Wind Project, a project developed by the RES group and recently acquired by ACCIONA Energía.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q3 2023 DEAL TRACKER
Q2 2023
Highlights:
- PepsiCo and TransAlta announce 12-year agreement: PepsiCo Canada entered into a virtual power purchase agreement (vPPA) with TransAlta to reach its target of matching its electricity consumption with 100 per cent renewable energy starting in 2023. The 41 megawatt (MW) deal includes a 12-year agreement with TransAlta’s Garden Plain Wind Project, which is expected to produce 130 MW of wind power annually. The wind farm is located in Paintearth County, Alberta.
- Loblaw and TC Energy announce agreement that includes pumped-hydro energy storage: Loblaw entered into an agreement with TC Energy for enough wind, solar and pumped hydro storage capacity to achieve 24/7 carbon-free energy for its Alberta operations. The deal includes new projects, with some expected to come online by 2025. The energy in the agreement is enough to power 45,000 homes. This deal will be added to the Deal Tracker once energy capacity figures are released.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q2 2023 DEAL TRACKER
Q1 2023
Highlights:
Capital Power enters into 23-year agreement with the Government of Canada: Capital Power announced a 23-year agreement with Public Services and Procurement Canada to supply 250,000 megawatt hours of electricity each year. This is expected to be able to power all federal government buildings in Alberta with clean electricity. Canada-sourced renewable energy credits will be used until the Halkirk 2 Wind project is operational in 2025, at which point the power will be provided by this project.
Microsoft and ATCO announce 15-year agreement: ATCO Ltd. (ATCO) announced that it has entered into a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft). This occurred alongside ATCO's acquisition of a portfolio of wind and solar assets and projects from Suncor Energy Inc. through its investment in Canadian Utilities Limited. In this agreement, Microsoft will purchase 150 megawatts of wind energy from the Forty Mile Wind Phase 1 Project, located in the County of Forty Mile in Alberta.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q1 2023 DEAL TRACKER
Q4 2022
Highlights:
- New goal: After achieving its 2 gigawatt goal three years early, BRC-Canada worked with its board members to establish a new renewable energy target. The new goal is to hit 10 GW of renewable energy procured by companies or institutions across Canada by 2030. Read more about this goal here.
- Potentia Renewables Inc. and Greengate Power Corporation announce 15-year agreement with Microsoft: Potentia Renewables Inc. (Potentia) and Greengate Power Corporation (Greengate) announced that their Paintearth Wind Project LP, has entered into a 15-year power-purchase agreement with Microsoft. Located in Alberta’s Paintearth County, the Paintearth Wind project is owned 75 per cent by Potentia and 25 per cent by Greengate. When it enters commercial operation in 2023, Microsoft will purchase approximately 543 GWh of renewable energy from Paintearth Wind every year throughout the term of the agreement. Read more here.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q4 2022 DEAL TRACKER
Q3 2022
Highlights:
- A lull after sustained activity: There were no new deals in the third quarter of 2022.
- What next? After achieving its 2 GW goal three years early, BRC-Canada is working with its board members to establish a new renewable energy target. Expect an announcement in Q4!
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q3 2022 DEAL TRACKER
Q2 2022
Highlights:
- Hitting BRC-Canada's 2-gigawatt target - three years early: That's enough to power 640,000 homes – more than all the homes in Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer combined. The deals to-date have brought $3.75 billion in investments and 4,500 jobs to Alberta, and BRC-Canada participating organizations have been involved in over 90% of all private deals for new renewable energy. Read more here.
- City of Edmonton locks in 100 per cent renewable energy for the next 20 years: BRC-Canada participant City of Edmonton is leading the way on municipal procurement of renewables from private companies, announcing two PPAs with BRC-Canada participants Capstone Infrastructure and BluEarth Renewables at the end of June. And the PPA for Capstone's Wild Rose 2 Wind Farm has the distinct milestone of being the largest long-term procurement of renewable energy by a Canadian city to date. Read more here.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q2 2022 DEAL TRACKER
Q1 2022
Highlights:
- Brace for breach: We are starting the year off with three new deal announcements, bringing us closer to the 2 GW contracted PPA volume BRCC set out to achieve as a goal for 2025. We are now at a total of 1,895 MW of total contracted capacity of wind and solar deals.
- New deals for announced projects: Both the Rattlesnake Ridge Wind and the Whitla Wind projects have announced their second deals, both deals involving BRCC members - Bullfrog Power, RBC, and Capital Power. While these are the first projects in Canada more than one offtake deal for the same project, we are likely to see more such "deal stacking" in months and years to come.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q1 2022 DEAL TRACKER
Q4 2021
Highlights:
- A record-setting year: 2021 was a year of records for renewable energy purchase agreements, with the largest number of deals announced(equalling all previous years combined) and by far the largest deal volume (nearly tripling all previous years combined).
- Huge leaps in deal sizes: With a 375 MW solar deal and a 297 MW wind deal, 2021 dramatically increased the upper size limits of deals signed to-date. Combined, this energy capacity could power 254,000 homes - more than enough to cover all homes in Lethbridge, Red Deer, and Fort McMurray.
- An increasing diversity of sectors: Seven new companies have joined the list of buyers, bringing the total to 16 unique commercial, industrial and institutional entities purchasing renewable energy in Alberta, from nine different economic sectors, including three newcomers in 2021: Food & Beverage, Technology, and Chemicals.
- A banner year for new investments and job creation: The 22 deals to-date will cumulatively support 2,277 MW of new wind and solar development, bringing $3.75 billion of investment and 4,500 jobs to Alberta’s economy.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q4 2021 DEAL TRACKER (v2)
Q3 2021
Highlights:
- A record-setting wind deal: This quarter saw Alberta’s largest purchase agreement for wind energy to date, a 15-year deal between EDP Renewables and TC Energy to build a 297 MW wind farm in Alberta.
- New sector: This quarter welcomes the first ever buyer from the chemical manufacturing industry, as Dow Chemicals — a leading producer of plastics, chemical and agricultural products — inks a 15-year contract with Capital Power for 25 MW on its Whitla Wind 2 project in southeast Alberta.
- Mix of technologies: We continue to see growth in both solar and wind off-take agreements, with 170 MW of new solar and 322 MW of new wind deals announced in the third quarter of 2021.
- Upward trend trending ... upward! The corporate procurement agreements announced in Q3 of 2021 add an additional 492 MW of total contracted capacity of renewable electricity, more than all the deals through 2020 combined!
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q3 2021 DEAL TRACKER
Q2 2021
Highlights:
- This first Deal Tracker update adds another 500 MW of new corporate renewable energy deals, which surpasses all previous years combined, and brings the total at the halfway mark of 2021 to 769 MW.
- Deals announced since the start of 2019 will foster around $2.5 billion CDN in new renewable energy investment and create more than 3,000 construction jobs in Alberta.
- Renewable energy deals to fulfill corporate demands continue to be among the biggest drivers of new wind and solar energy development in Canada.
- Solar growth in particular has skyrocketed: At of the start of 2019, Alberta was generating only 15 MW of utility-scale solar power. At the halfway mark in 2021, solar capacity now sits at 877 MW, almost 60 times what it was only three years ago.
➡️ DOWNLOAD Q2 2021 DEAL TRACKER
Launch — April 2021
Highlights:
- Canada’s first corporate renewables Deal Tracker shows that rapid growth is making large-scale commercial offtake agreements a key mechanism for procurement of renewable energy, and 2021 has already broken the record for most contracted capacity announced in a single year.
- Deals announced since the start of 2019 are fostering around $1.3 billion CDN in new renewable energy investment in Alberta
- Deals to buy renewable energy to supply corporate demand are now among the biggest drivers of new wind and solar energy development in Canada
- Growth in solar projects in particular has skyrocketed. Deals announced since the start of 2019 have multiplied the amount of contracted, utility-scale solar in place in Alberta by 30-fold