Poplar Hill Generating Plant

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The 45-megawatt Poplar Hill Generating Plant near Grande Prairie provides northwest Alberta with necessary 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 quickly reconnected to the generator without disconnecting the generator from the grid.