The large-scale Travers Solar project in Canada showcases Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ ability to successfully develop, construct, finance and divest projects, even in a new market. The experience gained, including an offtake agreement with Amazon, brings many more opportunities.
Some challenges can be expected on a first large-scale project in a new market. The key is to address those quickly and find solutions.
The Travers Solar project, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) first investment in Canada, was constructed during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing complications in working conditions and transportation of solar panels, amid exceptionally strong demand for shipping. The expertise of CIP, and its experienced network companies Copenhagen Infrastructure Service Company (CISC) and Blue Power Partners, enabled on time delivery after initial delays at the start of construction.
Normally there would have been 400 workers on site during the peak, but in summer 2022 this reached 750 to catch up, with school buses shuttling people in from the entire region.
If you’re facing a delay on a smaller solar project, it doesn’t take much manpower to recover to schedule. But at this scale, you need a significant ramp up of resources. Contractors might not recognise the risk associated to initial delays, so they need our experience and guidance.
Located about 130 km south of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, Travers is the largest non-hydro renewable energy asset in Canada, with total capacity of 465 MWac/691 MWdc. CIP’s first investment in Canada started construction in March 2021 and reached commercial operations in November 2022, and now delivers clean energy to some 105,000 equivalent households.
Travers Solar was acquired from Greengate Power Corporation in January 2020. While it was sub-optimally planned from a number of perspectives, CIP saw the opportunity to acquire a fundamentally strong project located in a dynamic power market and leverage CIP’s industrial heritage to optimise the project and create significant added value.
In a 20-month period, from start of construction to conclusion of divestment, CIP managed to build the largest solar farm in Canada, secure a power purchasing agreement (PPA) with Amazon, the world’s largest corporate offtaker and raise CAD 500 million of senior debt at very attractive terms.
On behalf of its Copenhagen Infrastructure Fund IV (CI IV), CIP sold its 100% ownership interest in the Travers Solar project in January 2023, to a fund managed by Axium Infrastructure. The sale demonstrated the value created by CIP during the development, financing and construction phases and its commitment to making a significant contribution to the green transition
Travers Solar was a successful investment which was only possible due to great collaboration between CIP and our network companies. There were many workstreams going on at the same time, so it was particularly critical that we all worked together to execute on our strategy. There were challenges along the way, of course, but Travers is a great example of CIP’s ability to navigate complex situations and deliver best-in-class projects for our investors.
The strong performance and experience gained from Travers Solar have paved the way for future CIP investments in Alberta
Travers Solar really highlights how we add value and our execution capabilities – from acquiring development projects, optimising and de-risking through our industrial expertise, constructing on-time and on-budget, financing and divesting. It’s a successful blueprint for investing in renewable projects, which we are actively replicating in Canada and elsewhere around the world.
In July 2022, CI IV took Final Investment Decision (FID) on Buffalo Plains, a 495 MW onshore wind farm close to Travers Solar. Construction is well underway, with Commercial Operations Date (COD) expected at the end of 2024. CIP is also developing the ~700 MWdc Aira solar project, about 150km southeast of Travers, and expects to take FID in H2 2024. Travers is CIP’s first project with Amazon as the PPA offtaker, which opens up opportunities for PPAs with the company all around the world. CIP has already signed a second PPA with Amazon for Buffalo Plains
Having a bankable PPA with a highly reputable counterpart is one of the key things to the whole success. Building a relationship with Amazon, the largest green power corporate offtaker in the world, is opportunity that we hope to utilise on future investments. With the achievements of Travers, we have established a platform to invest in new opportunities in North America as part of Fund V.
Across the world CIP is engaged in green energy and infrastructure projects. Here are a few of them.