DIF Capital Partners and Axium Infrastructure have joined forces with Macquarie Capital, OPTrust and Kineticor to fund the construction of a C$1.5bn (€950m) gas-fired power plant in Canada.
The consortium announced today that it had closed on the financing of the Cascade Power Project, a 900-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas-fired facility in Alberta.
The power plant is intended to help Alberta move away from its dependency on coal-fired power and to the establishment of a lower carbon-intensive power grid.
The consortium said the province contributed more than half of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation and the project was “one of the largest emissions-reduction opportunities in the country’s electricity sector”.
Local developer Kineticor had already entered a partnership with Canadian pension fund OPTrust and Macquarie Capital.
DIF Capital Partners is investing on behalf of its DIF Infrastructure VI fund
“Cascade was initially conceived by a group of individuals looking to make a difference as Alberta begins to transition away from coal-fired power generation in the province,” said Andrew Plaunt, CEO of Kineticor.
“Today represents the culmination of several years of close collaboration with our development partners at OPTrust and Macquarie, along with consultants, engineers, vendors, gas suppliers and local stakeholders.
“With the financial support from Axium and DIF, along with our project financing partners, achieving this significant milestone of a successful financing will allow us to make Cascade a reality.”
Macquarie acted as exclusive financial advisor and debt arranger to the partnership, securing non-recourse project financing.
BPC, a joint venture between affiliates of PCL Construction and Overland Contracting Canada, will construct the facility, with Kineticor acting as construction and asset manager.
